A school girl, born with the gift of magic, she is a component of her own past.

"Sixties? why does it feel colder than that?" the girl uttered to herself as she crossed the borders of the town. It had been well over a year since her last visit, and many years since her very first arrival.

Petite steps rapped a melody of slow strides as the girl ambled along the cobblestones she was so familiar with; the town itself a maze that she frequented daily. "Old Mrs. De'Lery's? Cookie Hut? this should be the way to the apartment complex?" she quietly reminded herself, as if the back of her hand wasn't quite enough.

The apartment complex in question was the residence of Kiki Masuka, best friend and overall number one companion/henchman. There wasn't a better person to look up when returning home than her; even if she was going to have a load of questions on stand-by considering Aya's extremely lapsed absence.

Winding roads and weaving side-streets took Aya on a direct course to the stand-tall building that loomed above all others that preceded it; as if to proclaim that it was her destination without a sliver of a doubt. Even so, it wasn't very hard to miss; the construction was more linear than mere bricks or wood, foretelling it was something more in line with 'modern day' living.

The doorman, always performing his job to unprecedented excellence, was quick to open the door for the young lady, removing his cap as protocol required as she crossed underneath the canopy.

"Morning, Miss. Can I help you with?" he trailed off in his greeting and offered assistance as he leered past the young one. She was without luggage, which could only mean she was a local resident. Instead of offering physical assistance, he wiggled his hat between fingers in motioned curiosity. "?finding somebody in specific?"

She clapped her residing hands comfortably at her back, offering a single nod of her head and beaming smile in response. "Kiki Masuka, sir!"

The gentleman replaced his cap, eyes trailing for the innards of the complex as he thought aloud. "Masuka, 'eh? Fine lass, that. Reception should be able to give you the details. They're picky about privacy, though."

His warning was heeded, a hand waving at the doorman as Aya stepped through the threshold of the complex the gentleman was so kindly holding open for her. "Thanks, Mister. I'm sure I'll be okay!"

Vast marble and red carpeting cascaded Aya's vision as she took a hefty look around, sucking in the warmth of the indoors that clung to her relax fit jeans and a 'Rock Girl Central' tee. At first glance, the setting gave off the eerie impression of a hotel; the reception desk, large lobby, and doorman Ted, as she was going to call him, being the most prominent of reasons.

Approaching the large, circular desk that resembled an information center, the girl made for her tippy-toes to look over the large surface, straight at the man sitting at the other end. "Ah? Nnph? Excuse me?" she huffed, exerting strength to maintain on her toes for only a few mere seconds before having to give it a break.

Dark blue saucers for eyes rose from the small game of cards that he was bemusing himself with to acknowledge the voice that called out to him. "Yes? How can?" he paused, offering the blank space in front of him an apparent, quizzical stare. "?help? you?"

With a hop, Aya flitted upwards and into his gaze, almost startling the receptionist straight out of his chair. "Yes! Can you inform Kiki Masuka that Ayaka Mahara is here to visit?"

A hand was pressed against his chest to keep his heart in check as he rose from his seat, lurching over the counter to observe the girl. "Dear Jashan, you nearly scared the life right out of me?" he exasperated, falling backwards into the comfort of his seat after a few dramatic seconds worth of chest thumping.

Aya blinked curiously as she lowered her gaze to meet the flat paneling of the desk before her, scrunching her nose. She wasn't certain if he wound up dying after announcing such a preposterous statement, or if something more sinister just happened right before her. Tempting fate, she spoke up rather loudly, "Um?sir? Did you die?"

Whimsical page turns announced the man's well-being, before his head peeked out from over the desk, fingers sliding a folded sheet of parchment her direction. "Ayaka Mahara-Iwakura, I presume?? I was informed to give you this should you arrive." He almost seemed bemused as he spoke.

With a small glare at the man, no doubt in relation to his strange behavior, Aya took the paper, unfolding it to skim briefly at the contents. Noticing the man had yet to return to his seat, she offered him a stare as if to say, "Are you all right?"

"Ha?sorry, it's just that we weren't expecting your arrival. This was delivered to us nearly a year ago?" he was growing more anxious by the second as he spoke; enough to creep Aya out that she had to move away from the desk after receiving the parchment.

The paper was snapped open, pulling from a pocket her thick, black-rimmed glasses.

Ayaka,
When you have a moment, please consider
meeting with us at District-17A. It is of the
upmost importance that we speak concern-
ing the current conditions of Somul.

We eagerly await your arrival once you ha-
ve resettled.

Newborne

Behind the super-magnified glasses came several blinks of sapphire eyes, turning to face the man who remained anxious, bobbing up and down like a jackhammer. Flicking the glasses from her face, she indicated the page with an ear piece.

"When did you get this, you said?" She questioned with hopes of re-evaluating the circumstances.

A nervous tick had the man scratching behind an ear as she fumbled with what seemed like paperwork surrounding the note that was delivered into her hands, reading aloud as though he were but a lackluster actor preparing to audition. "This letter was received by us, "The Everglade", on August 14th of the previous year."

"Over a year ago?? That was a little after I left. They must have known?" she quietly assessed. With lips pinched, she chewed at the inner layers of a cheek while lost in thought; the paper being folded and stuffed absently into a back pocket.

She regarded the man a final time, signaling with a hand wave to grab his attention. "Kiki Masuka? What floor?"

It took the gentleman a few moments to rearrange his thoughts to the question at hand, examining his registry. "Fourth floor, room 441, little lady? I'll inform her of your arrival."

A stern nod was Ayaka's decided response, making headway for the elevator. Everything else that she was holding onto was set on hold until well after she came face-to-face with her best friend.

"Forgive me for inquiring. Who are these 'Newborne' you're meeting with again?" Kiki mumbled while sorting through a binder that housed a small portion of their invaluable research. A small dip in the road or a mere pebble could be the young girl's vain, if it were not for Ayaka taking lead in their travels towards the meeting point the Newborne called for in their letter. "For some reason I'm not finding anything on them." Which was very odd, Kiki thought.

Crinkles of a large map folding heralded a pause in step, Ayaka taking both the moment to survey their surroundings, as well as to answer Kiki's question. "They're? friends," she lied nearly through her teeth, the hesitation giving it away. It was a partial truth, Aya figured. They did help her out several times. Even from death.

A slender brow curved as Kiki listened to the extremely brief response, although she didn't part her gaze from a clean sheet of paper. Speculating, she nudged Aya's thoughts, "Go on. Were these 'friends' of yours that you met while away?"

The question was an obvious one, which sparked an angry glower from Aya at her best friend. Of course it's when I was away, she wanted to shout. She maintained her cool as she answered, knowing all too well that her delinquent lie was to blame. "Some of them, yes. I don't know who wrote the letter. I can only imagine?"

She trailed off as she felt a small rumble of turf beneath their feet. The shifting of plates was enough that the duo felt the need to try and support one another, but equally unnecessary.

They were some distance from town. By the map's guidance, and Kiki's navigation through paperwork, Ayaka estimated they had crossed the threshold of the more recently deemed home, and straight on into "The Edge", a barren wasteland that, no matter the time of year, made skin itch from sweltering heat and storms of rusty red dust to sting the eyes. Once a home for the pair, they were not so enthused about reminiscing on times long since passed.

"Tremors," Kiki stated nonchalantly, shuddering as she tightened her hold on Aya. Leave it a moment, and the shaking will catch you off guard, Kiki reminded herself.

Aya agreed with a solemn nod, although was immediately shrugging from her friend's grip. So soon as it had started to rock their world, it ceased. Ayaka, and Kiki both were accustomed to the earthquakes and twisters that traumatized the Edge. From their experience alone, it was easy to assert this was not a usual quake. Nothing was so vague; or simple. "This is different," Aya declared with a thumb jab towards the dirt beneath them. "Almost like?"

"Most correct, child?" bellowed a baritone voice that whisked through ears like any snapping wind might. The strength it carried was unmatched, barren as the wastelands they occupied.

Not fully free from Kiki's grasp, Ayaka shrank into her hold. A man of molten rock, deriving from the earth that shed the mineral from his figure like a snake, rose a towering height before the girls, blotting the very sun that dressed the horizon behind him. Aged, withered, yet ever strong in physical attributes, brought back memories that Ayaka both feared and cherished. She was reminded who they worked under; and what her brother had spoken of. Yet, never once did she try and thank them for what they had done.

He was still to blame, however. They all were. So why? why was she doing this, she thought.

Pushing free from Kiki's grasp, Aya brashly pointed a finger at the chiseled man that exacerbated her feelings. "Mr. Zanzan! You're the one that sent the letter?" Her ill-feelings towards the man, no, the entirety of them, huffed from a heaving chest and parched lips. She was equally reminded that they spared her life. A quaking finger maintained discipline, but was faltering.

Zanzan, reminded that he is but a gentleman amongst ladies, provided a polite, curt bow of his head, hands out at his sides. "I was, indeed. Yet, it was not I who wished to speak these issues with you, you see?"

A fluent hand motion, grazing the air like it were drenched in moisture, brought forth a second, equally disturbing tremor that made the girls remember they were once together. A stalagmite pierced the ground, rising in a slow, steady motion that poked the old gentleman within the open, extended palm. Teasing the rocky tip of the stalagmite, Zanzan snapped his calloused fingers in a sharp jolt that crumbled the mineral as though it was nothing greater than a biscuit within the hands of a small child.

Replacing the rocky formation was that of a hooded silhouette; void of figure or features beyond that of a muddy-colored robe that clung worthlessly to what may be nothing but a skeleton beneath.

Fingers that resembled pencils, thin and lanky, pierced through the ends of sleeves to draw back the heavy hood that shrouded a distinguishing face; instead revealing that of a woman. She was young, possibly not even twenty, but looked as though she had been through a century worth of living. She was dreary, something out of a Halloween book, with wispy locks of magenta that disobeyed a master's wish to shield a low self-esteemed visage.

Her eyes--no, she hadn't any. A thick material, imbued with faintly scribbled runes, dressed where they should have been.

"We meet again, young Ayaka Mahara," the woman spoke, her voice a gentle flutter from lips inclining to smile.

Kiki's eyes closed tightly, head moving from side to side as though she was dreaming. What the hell is going on, she inquired to herself. Ayaka brushed fingers against Kiki's own, unlatching herself from the grip of her friend to inspect the second arrival closely. "?you. You're that seer."

Ayak vividly recalled the woman when she was ordered by Rey to kill her. Rinku's vision of crushing her head like a melon was not one she soon forgot.

"'That seer'? So soon to forget they who brighten one's life with renewal, to but not call them by an alias as they're prone?" A melody of words rang from the woman, a certain pain that she feigned with such gracefulness soaking them. She inched closer to Zanzan, digits resting against his chest. "A mistake; atone--"

A gentle noise snapping from the corner of Zanzan's mouth, cutting Rinku off in the middle of her guilt-riddled speech. "Rinku requested I write you the letter and see to it that we speak."

The girls paid no mind to what the woman spoke. Ayaka thumbed her back pocket, procuring the letter in hand to read it over. "But it says here?"

Rinku took on a much more sincere expression as she parted from her large companion, approaching Ayaka. "A district such as 17A, a meeting that we requested, is only possible were you to perceive it as such."

Zanzan's eyes solemnly observed the three, letting Rinku do precisely what it was she asked him to aid her with. It was no longer in his hands.

Adjusting her glasses, as Kiki often did before probing, she spoke up. "We were students of Somul's magic district. We're quite aware where we were supposed to--"

Rinku's face flattened, her expression asserting Kiki did not understand. Ayaka shook her head, crumbling the paper up as it no longer served a purpose. "Regardless of that, you have something you want to talk about concerning the school?"

An earnest nod of her head, motioning behind her to the vast wasteland of The Edge that leered at them from every direction. "Of emptiness?"

The girls rushed in renewed vigor through the desert plains. Humps of clumped sand and jagged whips of hot winds couldn't slow them down, nor would they let up even as their throats burned with thirst and threatened to close their windpipes.

They had to see for themselves the truths of what those Newborne spoke. A city so full of vitality and large as Somul certainly couldn't crumble over the course of several years. It was a titan amongst peasants. A cup of hot cocoa in an everlasting styrofoam cup. There must be some kind of mistake.

Gleaming spires that reflected tantalizing sun rays from their peaks jutted up past mounds of dust; just out of their vision's reach, but so close that it could almost be touched.

And when their feet sunk into those grains of sand, sinking within the filth of desert heat, they knew?

"What? what is this?" the blonde asked rhetorically, knowing that an answer would pique proud memories.

Her vision was clouded with water, sand, and swirls of dust that shrouded her world like fog of war. It was undeniable. Their city, their home, had fallen into disarray.

Nothing remained of the once happy memories she knew. Crumbling spires, deserted posts--these things were all that remained, with a cutting silence that sliced into anticipating ear drums with ringing deafness. The pattering of conversation and shouting tradesmen was exchanged with dusty howls of dark wind. Rinku's description of its whistling tone was precise.

Wide sapphire eyes turned onto Kiki, catching a small glimpse of Zanzan guiding the seer through the troublesome sands. Uncertain how long she could clamp her anger, she fumbled down the slope, and shuffled through the grains to meet them somewhere half way.

"What happened," she demanded, barely giving the pair a chance to muster breaths. "And don't try to dodge the questions with rhetoric!"

The giant's solemn amber eyes met the fiery gaze of the child; that which lingered within as blatant as the sun that punched them with a boxer's grace from above. He did not speak, and offered no intentions of providing her with further explanations than what he already had. Their clock had run short, and this was all that he could muster with what ticking time they had remaining.

Kiki hurried down after her friend, pulling the glasses from her face as she did so. "At a glimpse, I suspect this was not recent. I would like to go into town for a better examination."

"Then alone you shall be, with your shadows and reflections of mirrors," Rinku riddled, closing the ever close distance between she and her large companion.

The girls exchanged glances, looking to Zanzan. "Our paths must part here, children." he offered in hopeful assistance. "The clock ticks a new hour for you, and we are not amongst the minutes, or seconds that accompany it."

Aya frowned at the giant, turning her gaze onto the blinded seer. If somebody knew the answers to those questions that burned in her, it was the observer.

"I cannot," Rinku answered, before Aya could ask. "To change this path would be a dreadful affair; an everlasting paradox."

Swiping her glasses against her shirt to buff the plastic clean, Kiki nodded to the pair. She assessed their usefulness had reached a limit well before the girls arrived to see them. This was nothing more than solitary warning; one that she would soon understand. "You're leaving then?"

The giant lowered his head in response. Crumples of earth surged through the grains of sand at their feet, nipping at the pair until it rushed upwards like a venus flytrap, consuming the pair where they stood. Within moments, it disappeared much the same as it had came.

Aya emptily stared where the Newborne once stood, fingers balled into white-knuckled fists. Her eyes seeped with tiger orange, teeth bared with gentle, almost snorting feral growls. It was only by the touch of her friend's hand that she quieted to composure.

"I may have an idea."

"Your idea?" Ayaka asked her best friend of ten years. Kiki couldn't even begin to assimilate what she must have felt with a sudden explanation like that. The newest member of their small circle was teeming with aggression and full of expectation to arrest them. Resistance was not amongst the available options. Thankfully, she was disengaged because to Kiki's quick intervention.

"Yes," the young girl affirmed, opening a panel that was located on the nape of the neck of the tall figure. Exposed wires and lighting flickered in response to Kiki's invasion. "Sori is an android, or logically put, a Super Advanced Intelligence Backup Unit (SAIBU)," a small hiss emitting from the working parts of Sori's exposed paneling as she explained. Kiki continued to work despite the apparent dejection. "She was originally intended to be an archive for Somul's history, but I began to create spare objectives for her, such as law-enforcement and self-defense." She nodded a single time to the work she'd accomplished, closing the paneling and stepping back down onto the floor from her perch.

Aya watched, absorbing what information she could, but already formulating many questions for her friend. She wasn't sure how appropriate many of them were to ask. "When--when did you start working on her? We spent a lot of time together. There's no way you could have had time." Aya was shocked, in dismay, and overall disappointed.

Kiki shook her head, denying Aya her right to ask any questions. "Right now, we have more pressing manners to deal with. Sori's been incredibly damaged, possibly from everything that has gone on," rounding the large android and moving to open a second panel located on her wrist. "However, if I am able to activate her memory, I should be able to pull up access recording data that is able to detail for us what exactly happened here."

Sori whirred, her head rising as she started up. Her eyes were not unlike real rubies that acted as optical sensors, moving to scan the pair each in turn. Most of her senses focused on Kiki, her data recognizing her facial pattern.

"Master Masuka, is that you?" her hollowed voice echoed. Her whirring continued, gently humming as her systems became engaged one by one. Her head was the only active physical piece of her body; the rest not functional although active only moments before. "I fear I am damaged, my defensive systems are off-line and I am unable to access my mobility program."

Kiki nodded once, understanding her creation entirely. "It's good to have you back with us, Sori," Kiki said warmly, continuing her work on the open wrist paneling. "You're currently experiencing hardware failure do to my interference. Are you able to access your memory logs from ten minutes ago?"

The android complied to the question, head lowering as if she were in thought. "I do not believe so, Master Masuka. My data up until three years ago appears to be corrupt, and I am unable to retrieve your request," Sori replied to a disheartened Kiki.

Kiki's fingers ceased tinkering with the innards of her robot, shaking her head with heavy disappointment. "Damn it, that means somebody's toyed with your memory banks." Something she should have caught onto prior to that moment. Kiki reworked Sori's code to ensure she would not address anybody, especially Kiki, as "Master". It was faulty, extremely out of date programming. She returned to the paneling on the nape, deactivating her once again in a sudden motion.

The silent, but attentive Aya, watched with wide eyes at their exchange, not entirely sure she was believing what she was not only seeing, but hearing. Were Kiki to approach her years ago with this, she would not have even tried to make sense of it. It would have simply been another one of "Crazy Ki's Wild Ideas"!

"That's--I can't even believe it," she told her friend, rising up from her comfortable drywall to approach the figure. It was much less aggressive now, and her fear had subsided a great deal following its reactivation. She reached out to gently touch a hand, feeling the cool, metallic steel resemble something of living flesh. It was more lifelike than she'd give credit for.

A pop sounded from behind the paneling, blue and white flashes momentarily blinding Kiki each time they transpired. "She's been tampered with, but I can't figure out by whom. From here, it seems like her processes have been untouched. Which would mean her progr-"

Aya leaned aside to get a good look at Kiki, eyes absently watching her. "Can you? try to explain that to me in a way I can understand? I never studied this aspect of science?"

A small coloring formed underneath Kiki's eyes, head lowering in a deep nod. "Of course. She's been brainwashed to do things she wasn't made to do. Her memory is missing like amnesia. And she's set to attack anybody who trespasses the dorms."

Several nods made up Ayaka's understanding, better fit now to proceed. "But we're not trespassers. We're students!" she exclaimed.

A small shake of Kiki's head meant to defy Aya's thought. "Incorrect. We were students only until several years ago. After we left following Ryo's death, I had explicit instructions for one of my co-workers to upload the student data, as well as other preemptive tidbits. Which would place you?"

Aya frowned, understanding even more so. She despised not being a part of Somul's history anymore, what little thanks she could muster that she wasn't missing alongside everybody else. It gave her a fighting chance at saving them, and the city? "I understand. But why would she be programmed to attack people if she's a historical machine?"

"I do not know. Her defensive capabilities were installed to only activate were she directly tampered with. She should have been able to prevent this. Let's pray that I can access her archives and produce some results?" Kiki hoped, tongue protruding from the corner of her mouth as she worked, a small habit formed from rattling nerves and unending hours of hard work.

Aya nodded, rounding the machine to look at her face. She had an untold innocence about her, even though she was a mere interface. Like she could express to the world how uncertain she was of everything that surrounded her, while still able to tell you absolutely everything there is to know. It attracted Aya, made her crave to understand the creation that much more.

Kiki sighed audibly, a sharp metallic pop signaling Kiki's finishing touches were complete. "Let's try that. I've reactivated her vital functions, as well as mobility. But her defensive capabilities are still off-line. We shouldn't have anything to fear anymore, in the very least."

A gentle whirring sounded as Kiki flipped the internal switch to Sori's unit, causing her to slowly open her eyes to the world once more. She acknowledged the pair much the same as last time, scans returning clean. Her arms adjusted, going through what Kiki would claim to be a natural routine to ensure all mobility was intact. Sori looked to Kiki, doing what she could to provide the girl with a smile. "I believe I am back online once more to aid you, Kiki. I thank you for offering me the chance to work alongside you in this mission."

Kiki laughed, unable to contain herself at the mere mentioning. She was proud that her product was a riling success. This was her honest first time at seeing her production in action, despite her extensive knowledge of the program prior to through millions of prints and observational research. "Sori, I need you to activate your archives. Can you do that?"

Sori complied to the request, her lead lowering in faux thought. "Accessing? Accessing? Permission Denied," Sori spouted, although none to her own satisfaction. "Oh my. I believe I just denied you permission to access my mainframe, Kiki."

Aya chirped, smiling to her friend. "Looks like even your own creations hate you, Kiki," she mused, leaning into her friend to hug her from behind.

Frows burrowed as Kiki stared at her creation. She was granted permission to everything due to extensive programming to register her voice commands. It was an automatic bypass. Did she accidentally remove that code? Or did the corrupt archives destroy them, thus locking herself out of her own system? She shook her head, leaning into Aya's hold as she stared at Sori. "I think we have a lot of work ahead of us?"

Ayaka was astounded by Kiki's claim. Poltergeist's power was a small facility of energy in itself. Were it actually able to be stored into smaller versions of itself, there's no telling what could be done with it.

"A never-ending cycle of energy? who could have planned this?" the colorful blond asked, eyes searching the darkness for Kiki.

Fingers tightened their hold on Sori, left to hope she could seek out the energy sources with her current sensors. They'd seriously have issues were Sori incapable of locating the devices. "None other than your prized Mentor, Ryo," Kiki claimed, head turning to angle itself at Aya. Her voice needed to remain quiet, for their stealthy operation was still in the works.

"Ryo? planned an operation to steal Poltergeist's power? But? why?" concern consuming her voice. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

Kiki pressed into Sori, urging her to keep going. The android did as requested. "Because he was aware of Maho's intentions. Which I presume is why your adoptive father was allowed to so easily claim them," deciding against her better judgement to exclude Alex from any explanation.

A wince at their names, used together. Much had gone on, and she could not be so certain she possessed the strength to maintain a conversation. Only one girl was capable of tearing her walls down, with nothing but her name "Suki" being spoken. She was thankful Kiki would not so quickly name her with the same disregard. "What? his intentions were? but his goals were to claim the students who weld the strongest powers. It had nothing to do with Poltergeist!"

"Incorrect, Aya," requesting she hold on her rant with those few words. Her voice as commanding as when speaking to Sori. "Maho's goals were to obtain the power of the statues. He requires something far superior to himself in order to lay claim on them, however." Her voice wavered as Sori picked up pace. An arm of Aya's was claimed, to ensure they would remain a unit. "That is where the students came in. But they are a mere instrument to a greater cause."

Teeth clamped together, absorbing Kiki's explanation in full. "To? rival their aggressive power?"

Kiki nodded, regardless were it seen or not in the depths of hell. "Correct. That is where our understanding of him ends. When you returned, I intended to share this with you then. Unfortunately, much else has gone on. Not to mention, those of us who remained were put at ease knowing Poltergeist rested with you."

For a time, Aya was glad as well. She could not fathom the feelings she held towards the magical artifact. Its purity and commanding presence was something to be admired, even though it were an inanimate object. Never mind the connection she shared with it. Those late nights, using it as an ear to her issues and concerns. Her prayers and her dreams. They were inseparable, a silly attachment to something that could not apply reason or understanding.

Her thoughts were jolted from her brain as Sori came to a screeching halt, limbs flailing like rubber appendages at the abruptness. "My sensors have located a high energy readout coming straight ahead. I am unable to scan any other presences in this vicinity of the basement."

Kiki pushed off of Sori, a hand in the air to signal. "Lights on!"

An explosion of blinding white struck the pair as Sori's spotlights returned to life, splaying across a large ivory door that sealed off the explanation of what rested beyond. A silver tag was present on the door itself, shimmering in reflection of Sori's brash presence. Written was "Warehouse Sixteen".

Kiki nodded once, fingers rising up to peel the indicator off. "Sixteen. This is it," informing Ayaka with a smile that broke her character.

The signaling hand lowered, indicating Sori to go ahead and test the door itself. It was locked. Sori's fingers whirred quietly, exchanging digits meant for handling to ones of picks and keys. They began to work the door to the best of their ability, allowing nothing but simple metallic scrapes and rattles to permeate the hall they were within.

A sudden click rang out audibly, and the door was pressed open with a foreboding creak. "Quickly. We should take the remnants of her energy and prepare them so we can get power restored."

They filed into the small room, each taking their own assessment of the rundown interior. Along the far wall, where Sori's light was indicating, were three slabs of stone, each with an etching in them that Aya could pick out from miles away. They were runes from the forbidden arts of sealing. "These are? sealed," she proclaimed, hurrying over to them to get a closer look.

Kiki was close on her heels, looming over her friend and onto their salvation. "Sealed? That shouldn't be? Ryo ensured they were intended to remain raw so to build immunity on their own."

Blond locks swished the air in small whips, declining Kiki's memory. "There's no way? these are etched with a powerful sealing rune to ensure they cannot grow, or regress in power." Bright sapphire turned onto Kiki, brows piqued. "Are you sure he didn't seal these? I don't know anybody that could have."

Kiki shook her head a single time, turning back toward Sori with a hand shielding her bright spotlight. "Sori. Prepare these for transport. We need to get a better look outside of here."

The android approached her master, nodding in understanding. "As you wish, Kiki."

I could remember the very first time I set my eyes on Poltergeist. It was when Ryo, my mentor and Headmaster to the now shambled Magic School located within the Holy City, gave me the complete tour.

It was awe inspiring, to say the very least. He explained to me her purpose, and how she was originally one of the Four Supreme powers of Magic back in a world called Midalis. I never could believe in something like magic when I was a kid, even though I showed signs of the supernatural. Let alone an entire world that was complete with it. It felt like some kind of fantasy.

I was just a kid. I guess I still am, looking on it now.

Poltergeist was the Maiden of fire. He explained her influence on how she kept the school's power intact. She was a deity in her own right, and was the inspiration many looked up to when without guidance. I was too young to understand her purpose. I was too naive to understand her importance. I was too selfish to look past my own means of accomplishments.

And, with Father at my side, we took her away. We took away the only thing that the school had left; following Ryo's death. Which was also by Father's hands?

I did? so much wrong. To the people I gained so much from.

"Poltergeist?" Aya echoed her name aloud, looking up toward Ryo to seek his approval of her name.

The Koori, proudly standing beside his pupil, nodded in the utmost approval. "That is correct. She is our guidance when we fall into the darkness, aiding us with her flame of life."

The child, curious as she were young, approached the pillar crafted in the Maiden's liking. The statue possessed a heat unbearable for many to endure for long, but Aya found a comfort in the blistering element. "She feels alive," the child commented, wide sapphire eyes rising, gaping at the titan height of the inanimate.

The Koori watched with careful attention to the girl's closeness with the creation; unable to approach the super being like his smaller pupil may. He offered no words concerning the matter, merely responding to her absent comment, "She is very much alive, Ayaka. The Maiden slumbers eternally following her defeat at the hands of the people whom once worshipped her."

Aya was not imposed by the creation; continuing to carefully inch herself closer to its towering presence. Ryo's words became less of an informative one, but a simple buzz that escaped Aya's ears. She huffed a tone, it being applied to share understanding, when none were had.

The cyan-haired gentleman chuckled to Aya's captivation, folding his arms over his chest as he watched with fondness. "The people of Midalis grew impatient with the Lords of their world. As a result, they found their way here; exiled from the land they created."

Captivation waned, turning so as to inspect her mentor, his words sinking in like a terminal illness. "Why? why were they removed from power?" The story had taken her attention like a bedtime story would a child refusing to sleep.

Ryo's shoulders rolled as he answered in soft, hushed tones. "That, my dear, I could not tell you. It was many a century ago, and mere legend now, rather than fact," he finished with a gloomy undertone.

"That's awful," the girl answered sadly. She turned to offer condolences with an unwavering gaze for the Maiden.

The mentor never offered his agreement to Aya's words vocally, but shared her views in full. Those stories, he knew, as a fact. Yet, deep down, the reasons piled up on him like a slacking office worker on a Friday evening's shift. Motioning with one hand, he sought to guide the child from the auditorium, and off toward the dorms to the east. "If you are ready, my child, perhaps I may show you your living arrangements?"

Blond locks tossed through the air in wispy throws as she shook her head in resounding response. "Not yet? I would like to pay homage to her, if only for a little."

"? ?as you wish," Ryo answered, arms unfolding as he turned to quietly excuse the two.

***

"Pardon my intrusion," a metallic voice spoke up, disturbing the dead silence that penetrated the ruined auditorium like a sharp dagger in the back. "I have completed my memory scan."

Kiki was the first to respond, rising from the seats that had been shattered from previous conflicts that maimed the auditorium's interior. "Have you figured out the student's name?"

Sori nodded her head, eyes emitting a soft cyan glow as she began a projection module to review the student's file in full. Appearing before the trio was a woman several years older than they. She wore a senior mage's uniform, designed for those of the fifth tier. They were considered the mediocre type, possessing no true talent or affinity with one breed of magic, but were considered "awakened" to the point that they were required by the scouting teams to be brought in for protection from the outside realm.

Aya's hands broke free from their hold on the third and final slab, the sealing runes littering the fame showing cracks and marring from Aya's intervention. She was dazed, and visibly pale. It took a clearing of her throat and hand to her temple to gather the strength necessary to question Sori's data. "Who? is she?"

Being the expert in the field of Sori's technology, Kiki approached the woman's holographic, transparent display, interfacing with it to bring up other data. Kiki read what was splattering on the external display aloud, "Alyssa Morter, a fifth tier magi. Nineteen years of age, five-seven? naturally, being a fifth year, she possesses no magical traits," Kiki adds as she continues to examine the data. "She was brought in over ten years ago due to a latent power sensed by the scouts? that was back when the previous director was in charge of the school."

Aya remembered it as Kiki spoke it. Nine years ago, Ryo became the Headmaster of Somul when the previous director mysteriously vanished. Although there had been rumors, she could never pinpoint why, in specific, the previous Headmaster vanished.

She questioned Kiki, "Is she the one that Sori scanned earlier?"

The bespeckled girl nodded, never taking her eyes from the holographic image, "It is. At that, she's one of the few who's been in the school prior to the previous Headmaster's disappearance?" Kiki turned aside to Aya, an adjustment of her glasses a foreboding gesture. "I'm getting a bad taste in my mouth, Aya. We should finish this shattering somewhere else."

Aya's confusion only showed itself when Kiki spoke of her concern. The blond lowered her hands to the slabs, shaking her head. "I only need another few moments. Our goal is to restore the school's power supply, isn't it? There's so much we can do once it's activated, including reestablish the magic shield."

Just like that, Kiki moved after her friend, hands swishing to deny her friend that wish. "Aya, do you understand what this means? If this Alyssa girl has been here all this time, she could have been the one that tampered with Sori?"

Remaking contact with Poltergeist's lost power, the soft golden glow showed face once again. Aya's eyes were trained on the slabs, but maintained her attention on her friend. "And? Sori's under our control now, as well as the power of Poltergeist!"

Kiki stared with disbelief at her friend. Turning aside to Sori, she motioned with a hand to come forward. "Prepare these completed slabs for transport. I'll use them to erect a temporary barrier around us until we can get the third," she informed Sori.

Sori acknowledged, disabling the holographic display. Barely a step was taken toward the pair before a sharp, metallic scrape filled the air. The android's movements ceased, and within moments, crumbled towards the floor; a shower of sparks surrounding her frame.

"Sori!" Kiki cried out. She rose to her feet, but found herself unable to move, as Aya clambered over the slabs to grab her friend.

"Idiot, don't go near her!" Aya nearly demanded of her, tugging and pulling until Kiki's light frame crumbled much like her creation. Tears were already welling in her eyes, but she found herself unable to comprehend what just happened.

"It would be advisable that you listen to your little wench, Kiki Masuka, and leave my masterpiece alone," a feminine voice rang through the air, booming from what overhead speakers were still strung to the various walls that made up the auditorium's present state.

With flared glasses, Kiki's head snapped upwards toward the source. She understood the speakers were the source, but compensated by advising them rather than seeking out the aggressor. "Your masterpiece? Then you did reprogram Sori!" Noted, Kiki did not attempt to fidget from Aya's hold, taking heed of her friend's advice.

"Such a shrewd explanation, but accurate," the voice continued to boom through various speakers, masking the original's voice prominently. "I will ask of you only once, and you have very little time to comply. Hand over the remnants of Lord Maho's possessions, and I will bring your deaths swiftly."

Lord Maho's power? Aya and Kiki both shared their startled looks as the skies were observed in greater detail. She had a vantage point, but the ceiling was riddled with massive openings. Were she present, it would take longer to seek a direction than it would for her to launch an attack.

It was only then that Kiki recalled Sori's data?

"How close are you to completing the third shattering, Aya?" Kiki asked her friend in an extremely hushed whisper that barely broke stoic lips.

Aya's quivering eyes lowered to the final slab, examining the present runes that were broken into small bits. While present, by all extensions, they were already considered shattered. "Not even twenty seconds, if I had to guess? what are you going to?"

"Finish it now," she uttered between grit teeth, rising up to her feet. Sori's frying frame was acknowledged, but Kiki held back the flaring tears that wanted to devour her cheeks. She wouldn't shed emotion at the sight of the short circuiting unit. "Come out, Alyssa. We know exactly who you are," Kiki called out, seeking to make example of the woman's bluff.

From Kiki's summons, Alyssa showed face within the exposed paneling of a nearby golden-hued wall that had seen many a better day, a microphone in one hand, with an arm extending. "I'm so ashamed," she called out, before slipping down into the empty, scored bleachers. "I had you pegged as the self-sacrificing type!"

Kiki growled out loud, an escape for the pain she felt for her android. "You guessed wrong, Alyssa. You see, I put faith in myself, as well as my friend. I don't blindly give in!"

A chortle puffed through the overhead, it falling silent as Alyssa cut the mic, and threw it away. Leaping from the bleachers, she made landing on the ground floor some yards away from where Kiki stood; Sori between they, and she the lone shield between Aya and the new woman. "Thus my ashame? I'm never wrong, girl," a finger met her mouth, small tongue exposing to draw it into her mouth with a precious lick.

The woman's appearance was vaguely unnatural, with cherry-violet hair, and zombie-like golden eyes that possessed an unnatural hunger right beyond the window that broke into the very soul. Her walk, as she approached them, was lethargic, carrying no strength in it that would suggest she had an intention or purpose to harm; but this came after she sprung countless feet to the ground.

Something was off. Way off.

"I don't know what you think you're accomplishing here, Alyssa. We're out of your league? you don't want to fight us," Kiki suggested of the newcomer, showing no signs of aggression, but mentally preparing herself for any possible defenses, were they entirely necessary.

"Perhaps, Kiki? perhaps your data is wrong. Are you willing to see how the underdog plays with the prizes?" Alyssa spoke with a drone-like quality to her voice; a method that resembled Sori's very own, but without the metallic box that she came modulated with. It gave Kiki an unnerving fear. One that made her shoulders quiver.

"This is what I've desired so? come, child, feed me your flesh?"