Searching For Scrolls

Wearing her green-and-gold outfit with Argent Gloves, backpack, and Nightshade Machete on her back, Leona carried her new Silver Longsword specifically on the recommendation of Father Morris of the Order of Lightbringers. Several hours ago Leona had been contacted by Father Morris for the purpose of helping the Order with another task. They had heard that the Haunted Guild was a repository of necromancer artifacts and sought to investigate and see whether or not that allegation was true. If it was, the artifacts were to be confiscated and destroyed to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. Assisting her in this endeavor would be another mage from the Order, a young cleric by the name of Amanda.

Leona spotted the moonlit hall in the distance and heard the unmistakable howling of werewolves. The lycanthropes were very close by... she had better get a move on and meet up with the Order mage. Gripping her Silver Longsword, the blonde kept moving and keeping a watch for the werewolves with her natural night vision.

Leona walked to the front of the dilapidated guild hall and found a young woman wearing a green outfit that was a lot more detailed and elegant than Leona's own. Around her were the bodies of several charred werewolves lying motionless on the ground. There were no signs of weapon marks, so their demise had to have been by magic. The Silver Wolf mage felt a magic signature as strong as her own radiating from the other blonde.

"You must be Leona Jarnefeldt." The young woman said to her. She looked oddly calm for someone who had been standing alone in the middle of the Cursed Lands. Then again, she might have been inured to the perils of this region, a state of mind that Leona was quickly attaining.

"Yes. Are you Amanda from the Order of Lightbringers?" Leona asked. Hopefully the real Amanda had not been killed and replaced by a doppelganger made by necromancers.

"I am she." The other blonde confirmed. Leona was relieved.

"I was told that our job is to find some necromancer artifacts and take them to the Order headquarters for disposal." Leona said to Amanda.

"Yes. We are to find the blasphemous objects and destroy them all." Amanda firmly replied. There was no dissuading her from that objective and Leona was not going to try. Such things could be dangerous if mages skilled in their use obtained them.

"OK. I'm with you." Leona said. Amanda was about as easy to talk to as Diana was. There was a clear distrust of the Silver Wolf mage on her voice.

"I must warn you, Leona. I am aware of your guild's purpose. I also must warn you against the temptation to try and claim the artifacts for yourself. They are made for unholy rituals that no person must ever perform." Amanda sternly advised her. Leona was not too happy with the insinuation that she would work against the Order and take the necromancer relics for herself. The Silver Wolf mage had fought against enough necromancers to want nothing to do with them and their works.

"I don't even know how to use the objects. And I've fought a cult that dabbles in the dark arts, so I'm not going to suddenly do an about-face and join them. What makes you think that I'd even want the objects?" Leona asked pointedly. Amanda briefly recoiled at the mage's blunt rebuttal.

"You must be made aware of the danger, Leona. The artifacts will try everything in their power to tempt you to claim them for yourself. They will promise you great power if you use them. Ignore their temptations. No good can ever come from their use." Amanda stood her ground. Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Leona let the subject drop. She needed to count the Order mage as an ally, not as an enemy.

"So the artifacts can talk to people?" Leona asked Amanda, letting the perceived insult from earlier go for the sake of working with her.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. They speak into your mind and offer you what you desire most. They offer to make it a reality if you use them." Amanda explained. Leona was still unclear as to what objects made for necromancers had to offer her, but she let it go. She had gotten a bit of information that she was missing, namely why the artifacts were so dangerous.

"How do you know this?" Leona asked Amanda. Amanda took a deep breath. Her red eyes met Leona's eyes.

"My parents lost my older sister to a car accident when I was a child. They spent untold sums of Jewels looking for anything, anything to bring her back. They eventually found and bought an amulet that was rumored to give them the power to resurrect her. The amulet corrupted them with unholy whispers and promised that they could have their daughter back if her body was exhumed and I was sacrificed. One night I woke up bound in chains and lying on an altar... my parents had taken me to a cult of necromancers and were going to offer me as a sacrifice to bring back my sister." Amanda recounted. Leona listened in silence.

"Knights of the Order broke into the ritual chamber and saved me just before the dagger fell. My parents were too far gone to be saved, so the Order had to kill them along with the cultists. The Order reburied my sister, then took me in and cared for me. They taught me how to use my magic for the right reasons." Amanda finished her story. Leona now understood why the blonde detested necromancy so much. Leona felt the same way about bandits and slavers.

"That's fair enough. Let's go find these relics and destroy them." Leona said to Amanda. Amanda nodded and walked into the guild hall behind Leona. The Silver Wolf mage opened the door and proceeded inside with the Order mage right behind her.

Amanda:

[Word Count: 1,004]
[Total Word Count: 1,004/7,000]

-Inside the Haunted Guild-

Leona and Amanda stepped inside the Haunted Guild and closed the door behind them. The pair was in a foyer/parlor/whatever that had been ravaged by weather and time. A corner of the roof was missing and looked like it had been blasted away by something like an errant spell or simply ripped away by a powerful windstorm. There was a lot of water damage from the roof to the floor, which had a pile of dead and rotting leaves so large that it nearly touched the top of a small wooden stand in the corner. This place had obviously seen better days.

There was a dilapidated bookshelf with old books that showed signs of having been feasted on by insects. Mildew and mold claimed what the insects had not consumed for sustenance. Their covers were so old and weather-beaten that it was impossible to read the titles to ascertain their contents. Leona did not want to touch them because of the aforementioned mildew and mold... she did not want to get violently ill just before a major fight.

Suddenly the pair heard screaming. Leona dropped to one knee while Amanda raised her hands and prepared an offensive spell. The pair waited for any signs of a welcoming committee to greet them, but after the echoes of the screaming faded, nothing showed up to accost them. Leona stood up again while Amanda canceled the spell and lowered her hands to her sides.

"Are we facing invisible enemies?" Leona asked Amanda. She looked down the hallway in front of them and saw nothing. Seeing nothing was a lot more concerning to her than seeing a hallway packed with enemies.

"No. So far we are not facing any opposition. We should count ourselves fortunate." Amanda replied calmly. She then pointed towards a wooden door just to the left of Leona. The sword-wielding mage turned to face it and carefully walked over to it. She put a hand on the knob, then waited for Amanda to raise her hands for an offensive spell. The Order mage nodded and Leona yanked it open.

Leona waited for something to come rushing out from behind the door, but nothing happened. She stepped out from behind the door and went through first, then waited for Amanda to follow behind her. The blonde's natural night vision cut through the gloom and allowed her to peer into the darkness shrouding the hallway, an ability that was particularly valuable in this dark, creepy place.

"Much evil has taken place in these halls ever since its original owners were killed." Amanda commented out of nowhere.

"What kind of evil?" Leona asked.

"Necromancers used to gather here until Thomas Beckit exterminated them with Lifebringer." Amanda explained with an economy of words.

"That was hundreds of years ago, right?" Leona asked while walking down the hall. They were halfway to their destination, which was a set of stone steps that led downward. Amanda gave a slight smile.

"So you have heard of him. Yes. He was last here on a crusade hundreds of years ago." Amanda answered.

"Wouldn't that be plenty of time for whole new cults to set up shop here?" Leona inquired.

"Ordinarily, yes. Necromancers tend to congregate in places where they can conduct their unholy rituals far from the prying eyes of authorities. However, I fear that something worse has claimed these halls for their own." Amanda gave a response that raised more questions than it answered. Part of Leona was not sure whether she wanted an answer. But she asked anyway.

"What could be worse than necromancers?" Leona asked as the pair reached the staircase.

"Demons." Amanda said laconically. Leona turned and looked at her. Demons?

[Word Count: 620]
[Total Word Count: 1,624/7,000]

"Yes, demons. I can feel their presence deeper in the guild hall." Amanda said to her. Leona looked at her Silver Longsword with concern. Would it be enough to actually hurt the new enemy that she had just learned about?

"Do not worry, Leona. Your Silver Longsword will be enough to harm them. We will be fighting lesser demons, but that does not mean our mission will be easy." Amanda replied factually. Without waiting for a response, the mage followed Leona down the stairs and into the basement. Leona wondered how tough the opposition from the "lesser demons" would be.

-In the basement-

The pair descended the stairs and found themselves looking down a long corridor with metal doors lying on the ground. The doors had been knocked off their hinges by overwhelming force, but exactly what could have generated that force was a mystery to the pair of blonde mages. Amanda cast a spell that created a ball of golden light and bent down to examine one of the doors. Leona kept her eyes fixed on the end of the hallway in case someone did not take kindly to their investigation.

"Zombies did this. A Lot of them. I recall reading Cleric Anderson's report of intense zombie activity down here almost a month ago." Amanda informed Leona.

"How many zombies were in each cell?" Leona asked. She blinked for a moment. There was a shadow with red eyes down the hall, but it had just vanished. There was definitely something occupying the Haunted Guild, but she was not sure if it was a demon.

"No fewer than eight." Amanda tersely replied as she stood up and rejoined Leona. Leona spotted the red-eyed shadow at the end of the hall again. Her companion must have seen it too because she raised a hand and recited a spell. Moments later the entire hallway glowed gold and the pair spotted the shadow more clearly.

It was a muscular being with no visible mouth and a red midsection that looked like exposed muscle. It raised clawed hands and charged at them with near-human speed. Leona reacted with equal speed, swinging her sword with both hands and bisecting it diagonally left from collarbone to pelvis. Its eyes widened as it fell to the ground in two pieces and black blood poured from its halves. Its body remained on the floor until it turned black and crumbled to ash where it fell.

"Congratulations, Miss Jarnefeldt. You have just defeated your first demon." Amanda said calmly. Moments later inhuman voices roared from down the hallway and more shadows rounded the corner. Their red eyes gleamed with hatred for anything not of their kind.

"However, they rarely travel alone. They typically roam in packs of no fewer than a dozen." Amanda added with unusual calm. Leona sighed. Now Amanda told her. She wondered what other vital information the Order mage was withholding from her.

"All right then. Looks like it's time to see what this sword can do." Leona commented. The demons were approaching quickly and looked like they meant business. Amanda kept her hands raised and began muttering a spell. The first one rushed at Leona and died as quickly as the first demon had with a horizontal decapitating slash. The second charged and slashed at Leona with its claws; Leona blocked them with her left Argent Glove and countered with a one-handed slash to the chest followed by a stab to the heart.

It seized up and slumped forward, making retrieving her sword difficult. Leona used a Wind Blast on the remaining demons to buy herself some time to get back the Silver Longsword lodged in the demon's chest. Most of them was knocked to the floor, but three avoided the blast and remained on their feet to challenge her. Two bolts of golden energy slammed into the chests of two of the demons, instantly turning them to ash where they stood. The third hesitated just long enough for Leona to use her Silver Longsword to kill it with a disemboweling slash that opened its chest and stomach and sent black blood gushing to the ground in a torrent.

Amanda muttered another incantation and the hallway glowed gold as she extended the fingers on her hands and fired beams of golden energy that incinerated the demons where they lay or were kneeling as they struggled to their feet. All of the enemies were dead. There would be plenty more where they came from.

"Well done, Miss Jarnefeldt. You defeated them without even breaking a sweat. It is no wonder that Diana spoke so highly of you." Amanda gave what sounded like a genuine compliment. Leona took a moment to bask in the praise, then slowly walked forward to the end of the hallway. Amanda followed behind her with glowing hands raised.

"Do be careful, Leona. There is no telling how many more of them we will face before this mission is completed. You must pace yourself and avoid injury as much as possible." Amanda counseled her. The Silver Wolf mage found that to be decent advice. She would have to be careful to avoid injury or overexertion so that her strength could last the entire mission. There was plenty more territory to cover and every step would be contested by demons.

Demon:

[Word Count: 886]
[Total Word Count: 2,510/7,000]

Leona led the way with Amanda following close behind. The pair reached the end of the hallway and found nothing of interest but a door made of metal. The pair looked at each other.

"Be careful, Leona. I feel a lot of dark energy gathered beyond that door." Amanda warned her as Leona got into position to open the door. Leona put a hand on the door handle and pulled the metal door open. Out rushed a demon that Amanda disintegrated with a burst of golden energy.

"Go forward. Do not fear, for I will be right behind you." Amanda informed Leona. Leona nodded and opened the door again, then walked inside an expansive circular room filled with bookshelves and scrolls and chairs upholstered in a material too light in a color to be leather. If the mage did not know any better, she could have sworn that the material was human skin. Amanda entered the room right behind her and made a comment.

"Here is what we came for, Leona. A collection of blasphemous books and treatises on the dark arts. Do not let their foul whispers get to you, for they promise much but give nothing but eternal servitude to the darkness." Amanda warned her.

"What whispers?" Leona inquired, uncertain as to whether they were literal or metaphorical. Soon she heard them. Whispers in soft female voices. Numerous whispers coming from all directions.

Kill her. Kill the Order mage and power beyond reckoning will be yours. Kill her now.

Do not be deceived. She seeks to keep the power for herself. She will not destroy us because she covets our power.

Why do you hesitate? She will take the power for herself and leave you to die... if she does not kill you with her own hands first. Do not let her claim it.

Leona looked at Amanda, whose red eyes gazed at her with concern.

"They're talking to me. They're telling me that you want all the power for yourself." Leona warned her job partner.

She will destroy your guild if you let her take us. She will destroy all of your work and laugh over your corpse. All of your friends will die in agony. Are you going to permit that to happen?

Leona suddenly saw images of Amanda standing over the corpses of her guildmates and guild staff with blood on her hands and a smile on her face. The guild hall was nothing but rubble and charred corpses were scattered in the ruins. Leona shook it off as a trick the scrolls were playing on her. They would do anything to avoid destruction and remain in the human world, where they could tempt vulnerable humans to use them and fall into eternal servitude to demons. These scrolls and books needed burning as soon as possible.

"What are they saying? What are they telling you?" Amanda asked anxiously.

"They're saying that you'll destroy my guild and kill everyone in the guild hall." Leona answered.

She is playing you for an idiot. She will take everything and leave you to die. Do not be deceived.

Do not let yourself be her pawn. She is only using you to further her own goals. You can stop her now if you kill her.

Do not let yourself be used by her. Take our power and use it to lay low your enemies. Kill whoever does not bend the knee to you and claim what is yours.

"They're promising me the power to kill anyone who doesn't submit to me." Leona added. The scrolls were stepping up their efforts to get her to defend them. The blonde's resistance was holding out so far, but the ceaseless whispering was starting to take its toll. What was Amanda waiting on? Why was she not destroying all the literature now while she had the chance?

Leona's thoughts turned to a dark place. What if what they were saying was true? What if Amanda really did want them for herself so that she would be the one to tap into their power?

"What are you waiting for? DESTROY THEM, AMANDA! DO IT NOW!" Leona shouted at the Order mage. The whispers were intensifying. They were pleading with her to save them and offering still more power in exchange for her killing Amanda.

Why are you letting her do this? Do you want to throw everything you have worked for away?

This is your only chance to claim our power. Do not let it slip through your fingers.

Protect us and we will aid you. You will gain power to rival the Wizard Saints. The Magic Council itself will bow before you. You will become the supreme power in Earthland.

"QUIT STALLING! BURN THEM, DAMN IT! BURN THEM!" Leona shouted to Amanda, dropping her Silver Longsword and cupping her hands over her ears to block out the whispers. What was Amanda waiting for? Why was she delaying?

[Word Count: 823]
[Total Word Count: 3,333/7,000]

Alarmed by Leona's shift in behavior, Amanda began using her Holy magic to burn some of the scrolls and books where they sat, turning them to ash and silencing some of the whispers in Leona's head. The Silver Wolf mage was slowly starting to feel relief from the endless torment that the whispers were inflicting on her. She sat on the ground and tried to recover while the scrolls and books filled with unholy magic were being destroyed.

You idiot! You are forfeiting your chance for power!

Do you want to be the slave of others for the rest of your life?

Why do you let her destroy us?

Leona ignored their desperate pleading. She was not going to be a slave to demons no matter what they offered her. She watched Amanda destroy shelf after shelf of the blasphemous literature and felt the pressure in her head lift enough that she could stand up straight and hold her sword. Leona picked up her Silver Longsword and prepared for trouble to come barreling through the door.

"How can I help?" Leona asked Amanda.

"These unholy works can only be destroyed by Holy magic. Ordinary flames will not harm them. Stand watch for demons and let me work." Amanda answered, her magic ravaging more of the dark library that no human should ever visit. A quarter of the library was now destroyed. There was still a lot of material to burn, but the pair began hearing loud roaring and speech in a deep guttural language coming from the hallway.

"The demons will not stand for us to destroy their work. Hold them back while I continue to cleanse this place!" Amanda instructed her. Leona nodded and watched the door that was the only way in or out. This was going to be rough.

The metal door was pounded on by numerous hands. At first it held firm, but then indentations began to form on the door and it started to buckle as the hits grew more forceful, like a battering ram was being used. A few more forceful hits later and it was smashed in. Demons began pouring into the room and Leona rushed to meet them.

"KEEP GOING!" Leona shouted as she began swinging her Silver Longsword into the mass of demons that threatened to pour into the room. She killed three demons with as many decapitating swings, but there were still more behind them. She tried to hold them off, but there were simply too many of them for one person to fight and some inevitably got by her in ones and twos.

"THEY'RE STARTING TO GET THROUGH!" Leona shouted to Amanda, who was nearing the halfway point of the library.

"HOLD THEM!" Amanda shouted as she vaporized some of the demons, then turned back to her work.

Leona continued to fight, dodging claw swipes and cutting off arms whenever possible. Every now and again a demon would get a lucky swipe and the blonde would take a hit. First her midriff was clawed, then she lost the left sleeve of her outfit top to rending claws. Leona used a Wind Blast to force some of the demons back, but there were many more to take their place. Her sword kept rending demon flesh with every stroke, but she was fighting a losing battle. Suddenly the blonde was grabbed and thrown against a wall.

"THEY'RE GETTING THROUGH AGAIN!" Leona shouted, kicking the muscular enemy in the groin until it relented and let her go. She then cleaved it in two from the hips, its top half flopping to the ground and its bottom half wobbling until she kicked it over. Another demon was soon upon her. While she was busy fighting, she noticed something odd. The ones that got through were not going after Amanda... they were taking the books and scrolls!

"THEY'RE AFTER THE BOOKS AND SCROLLS!" Leona shouted an update. She finished off the enemy in front of her with a Mach Straight followed by a Sky Hammer kick that drove its face into the ground and killed it. She saw demons scramble to grab an armful of scrolls and books, then disappear in a burst of crimson light once their arms were full.

"DAMN IT! I'M NOT FINISHED!" Amanda yelled back. Leona was doing everything she could to protect the Order mage while she worked. Some of the demons were now trying to get to her, but Leona stood ready to stop them.

Her sword stayed in constant motion, carving into demons with each swing and driving a few of them back. The horde was starting to thin out, but that was not due to Leona's valiant defense of Amanda. The other half of the library was starting to vanish due to the efforts of the demons to save their literature. Leona groaned as she took another slash that cut into her stomach. She killed the offender with a decapitating swing and called to Amanda.

"THEY'VE ALREADY TAKEN MORE THAN HALF OF THE LIBRARY!" Leona called out. She was cut across the right shoulder by raking claws, the pain nearly causing her to drop her sword. Leona rallied and killed it with a stab to the chest, then cut another one in half at the waist.

"I'VE DONE ALL I CAN! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Amanda called out. Once the last of the demons had grabbed the last of the books and vanished, still more of them poured through the doorway in a never-ending torrent of claws that reached for flesh to cut into. How were the blondes going to escape this situation?

[Word Count: 940]
[Total Word Count: 4,273/7,000]

Leona heard rustling behind her as she felt Amanda grab her waist from behind. What was she doing? That was not going to get them out of here.

Amanda began to mutter an incantation as Leona kept fighting to keep them alive. The demons were slowly filling the room and encircling them. Whatever Amanda was doing, she had better do it fast because there was no way Leona could fend off so many of them attacking all at once.

Leona stuck down a demon that rushed at her with a diagonal slash that cut through its collarbone. The other mage's muttering sped up as the two of them began to glow gold. Two more demons rushed to the attack and two more of them ended up as piles of ash for their trouble. The Silver Wolf mage gasped as the demons started moving towards them in unison. They were about to be in big trouble.

Amanda finished the incantation and light filled the room before the pair disappeared. Moments later cold air slapped Leona's face as she found herself standing outside the Haunted Guild with Amanda. They were safe for the moment, but they did not know how much time their sudden relocation would buy them before they were set upon again by infernal enemies.

"They got away with some of the books. It may be awhile before we find them again." Amanda commented.

"Sorry about that." Leona apologized to her companion.

"No, Leona. It is not your fault. You did all that one person could do in the face of such odds. Diana was right to speak so highly of you." Amanda said in a sincere compliment. She walked over to Leona and laid her hands on the latter's shoulders, channeling golden energy through them. Leona's wounds closed up in a matter of seconds and the dried blood vanished soon after.

"Thanks Amanda." Leona said to the Order mage. She nodded and faced the blonde. She looked concerned.

"What do we tell the Order?" Leona asked. Amanda looked at her with a calm facial expression.

"That we encountered demons and retreated before we got in over our heads, that is what. We encountered a force far worse than mere human necromancers and did everything we could to stop them. The Order will understand that we were outmatched by demons." Amanda assured her. Leona did not like leaving a job half-finished, but in this case she had no choice. The items they were supposed to destroy had been taken off to who knew where by demons and pursuit was impossible. If someone as devoted to the Order of Lightbringers as Amanda said that a threat could not be beaten and it was time to fall back, then Leona would be wise to heed her words and fall back for the time being. Going it alone and trying to be a hero against such unearthly forces would only get her killed.

"OK, that answers that. Now that the Haunted Guild is overrun with demons, what do we do?" Leona asked Amanda another question.

"We inform the Order. They will send demon hunters to cleanse the Haunted Guild. In the meantime, I will cast a spell to keep the demons in." Amanda informed her. She walked up to the doorstep, muttered an incantation, and started to cast a spell when she suddenly stopped. Leona, who had been on the watch for werewolves, was curious as to why Amanda stopped the spell.

"I do not feel a demonic presence emanating from the building anymore. That is odd." Amanda commented. Leona walked up to her and stared quizzically. What did she mean?

"Do you think they left after they got the books out?" Leona asked. Amanda nodded.

"I know that this request is foolish, but I want to know for certain. Please guide me back into the Haunted Guild." Amanda requested of Leona. The mage was right. That was a foolish request. They had just barely escaped that trap and now she wanted to stroll right back into it?

"Please. We need to make sure the demons are truly gone." Amanda repeated her request. Leona took a deep breath and sighed. She could see where the green-clad mage was coming from. They needed to be sure that all the demons were gone before reporting back to the Order's leadership.

"OK. We'll go back in." Leona relented. Even though everything told her to just turn around and run, she was not going to abandon Amanda. Besides, she owed it to the Order to salvage some success from this mission.

"Thank you." Amanda said with a smile, the first of the night. Leona and Amanda made their way back into the Haunted Guild to begin a sweep for any remaining demons that might be hiding inside. This was going to be rough... the demons knew what they were up against and would not let the blondes escape a second time. Still, it had to be done. Countless lives were at stake and Leona could not just walk away from a chance to clear the hall of the new threat.

[Word Count: 853]
[Total Word Count: 5,126/7,000]

-Inside the Haunted Guild-

Leona and Amanda re-entered the Haunted Guild and found themselves facing some very familiar scenery. Nothing had changed since their last visit to the foyer and everything was still run-down and weather-beaten. The pair pressed ahead into the next room with the staircase at the end of the hallway. When they opened the door all they saw was darkness. After the adrenaline from the earlier melee in the library had worn off, the darkness was suddenly a lot more frightening than it used to be.

"Are you feeling anything?" Leona asked Amanda while walking slowly down the hallway, Silver Longsword at the ready.

"No. Nothing at all." Amanda replied before recasting the spell that had lit the way earlier. A golden glow now illuminated the hall and dispelled the darkness, letting the mages see clearly. All that stood between them and the stairs was empty air. They soon reached the staircase and descended it, ready for another fight against the demons.

-In the basement-

Down in the basement everything was the same as it was earlier. The metal doors were still lying on the floor and the area looked undisturbed. The demon stampede had not harmed them in the slightest, which was strange. Leona and Amanda walked by them and looked for threats to come stampeding down the hall at any moment. When were they going to show up and try to finish what they had started?

"Are you sensing anything?" Leona asked Amanda. The latter shook her head.

"Nothing." Amanda answered laconically. Leona was not comforted by that. Amanda's inability to detect activity meant either that the demons had all fled or that they had disguised their presence and were waiting for the mages to fall into their trap before making themselves known. The Silver Wolf mage had a feeling it was the latter.

They continued to walk until they came to the bend in the hallway and faced the door they had used to gain entry to the library. It was back on its hinges and all damage had been repaired like the demons had never smashed it in. Leona was alarmed by that.

"That door was smashed in just minutes ago. How could it be put back so quickly?" Leona asked Amanda.

"I... I do not know how." Amanda admitted, studying the door carefully. It showed no signs of damage at all. She closed her eyes and stood in place for a few moments, reaching her hands towards the door.

"I no longer feel their presence, Leona. I do not feel any dark energy emanating from behind the door. That is most unusual. Normally I feel a lingering taint wherever demons have walked." Amanda informed her. More and more bad news was being piled at Leona's feet. She did not know what to think about this job because nothing about it made any sense.

It had started off as a simple sweep for necromancers and the destruction of any of their artifacts, but instead they encountered demons. They got into a demonic library and managed to trash half of it before the rest of its contents were carted away by the creatures. They had escaped encirclement and slaughter but went back inside to clear out any remaining demons. Now they were back inside the Haunted Guild and there were no signs of infernal activity. Leona was utterly confused.

Was she suffering residual effects from the whispering? Had a memory-altering spell been cast upon her before the mages escaped the first time? She did not know. All she knew was that her clothes had been shredded... again.

"Want to look behind the door?" Leona asked Amanda. The latter nodded and Leona opened the door. The blondes peeked inside and found... a normal library? Leona was not sure what was going on and she wanted answers.

-Inside the library-

The two mages walked around the circular library and examined all the books. They were all old books on normal subjects like history, geography, literature, and wildlife. There was not a single necromancer artifact or book anywhere in the library. The chairs were upholstered with leather, not human skin. However, the pair decided to keep searching because someone might have cast illusion magic to scare them away.

"Check everywhere." Amanda laconically ordered Leona.

[Word Count: 718]
[Total Word Count: 5,844/7,000]

The blondes checked every shelf in the library for a mechanism that could open a secret alcove or a secret passage, but they found nothing. They even moved all the furniture in an attempt to stumble upon something. Their efforts were fruitless.

"OK, I still don't get how my clothes got torn and how I got all of those cuts if the whole demon fight was just one big illusion. Also, if it was real, half the shelves would be incinerated and the other half would be empty." Leona commented as she stared at a bookshelf near the end of the right-hand row.

"I do not quite understand myself, but I have a theory." Amanda chimed in. She was inspecting a circular table in the center of the room. Something about it seemed... off.

"OK, shoot. What do you have?" Leona asked.

"Maybe necromancers set up an illusion spell as a safeguard. The illusion spell must have been powered by belief. In other words, if you believed that you were under attack by demons, then
they somehow become real." Amanda theorized. Leona shrugged her shoulders.

"I can buy that. Those claw marks on my stomach and the blood were real enough for me." Leona commented.

"You do not seem to have a very good knowledge of magic for someone who leads a guild devoted to magical knowledge. Why is that?" Amanda asked out of the blue.

"I'll be honest with you, Amanda. I never expected to become a Guild Master. I expected to remain a Guild Ace for the rest of my career. One day our second Guild Master disappeared and I was chosen to take their place. I've been Guild Master ever since." Leona answered truthfully and without anger. Amanda seemed to be taken aback by such honesty.

"Well... I... I appreciate your honesty, Leona. I did not mean any offense." Amanda apologized.

"It's fine, Amanda. I'm slowly starting to learn about how magic works. The guild staff's had to put in a lot of hours to teach me about things like handling paperwork and other logistical tasks. I've also had to lead the guild in the field... I'm still having to learn how to lead others effectively. Believe me when I say there's more to being a Guild Master than having a big title and a fancy office." Leona added without prompting. She was slowly growing into the role, but she had to grow into it faster because time waited for no man. Having Eoduun Eero at her side made life a lot easier, but she had to learn to stand on her own.

"I noticed that you take a lot of fighting and exploration jobs." Amanda continued the conversation.

"Yes. I'm more of a fighter than a scholar." Leona admitted freely. That was no secret. Eoduun could have told Amanda that much.

"Fair enough. But tell me something. What do you hope to get out of working with the Order of Lightbringers?" Amanda asked Leona.

"I'll be honest. I was hoping to get some updated books on how to recognize and fight supernatural threats. Our guild library needs some updated books. I want my guild members to be ready and able to fight werewolves or vampires or whatever at a moment's notice." Leona told Amanda without distorting the truth.

"Interesting." Amanda replied laconically. She looked under the table and paused for a moment. Her hand then tapped something and one of the bookshelves moved forward and slid to the right. Inside was a hidden alcove containing a rectangular book with a light-colored cover that was wider than it was tall. The blondes walked over to the newly uncovered alcove to get a closer look at the book and Amanda recoiled.

"We have found what the necromancers sought to hide." Amanda announced, taking the book into her hands. Leona moved to touch it with her left hand.

"NO! This book is dangerous! Do not touch it, Leona!" Amanda sharply rebuked her. Leona immediately withdrew her left hand like something had just bit it off. Amanda's words were so sharp that they could cut flesh as easily as the claws of the demons.

"Well, how can you touch it without any danger?" Leona asked.

"The Order has trained me to resist dark influences. You... you do not have such protection. Your willpower is impressive, but willpower alone is not enough against something like this." Amanda replied, making her tone softer in an effort to compensate for being so sharp with Leona earlier.

"OK. Let's just get out of here and take the book to Order headquarters." Leona suggested. She wanted to get out of her while the going was still good. Amanda readily agreed.

"I concur. Let us leave this forsaken place." Amanda voiced her agreement. Together the blondes left the library and made their way out of the Haunted Guild. When they were finally outside, Amanda teleported them to Holy Castle with her magic before the werewolves in the surrounding woods decided to make them a midnight snack.

[Word Count: 840]
[Total Word Count: 6,684/7,000]

-Holy Castle-

It was almost sundown when the pair arrived at Holy Castle with the book in tow. They were greeted by Father Morris and Diana. The blondes walked over to explain what had happened.

"I see that you have retrieved an unusual book. Is it a book of necromancer lore?" Father Morris asked them.

"I believe that it is, Father. The book is bound in human skin and a strange sigil is etched onto it. The sigil is nothing like I have seen before." Amanda reported, handing the book to the older cleric. He muttered something that sounded like a prayer and accepted the tome with gloved hands. Leona was worried about what they had just recovered. What if it wanted to be found so that it could corrupt someone into using it?

"I notice that Miss Jarnefeldt's clothing has been torn. Did you encounter much resistance?" Father Morris asked.

"Yes, Father. We encountered a demonic presence that tried to stop us from acquiring the book. When we stepped into the library, Leona was set upon by whispering voices that promised her power greater than that of the Wizard Saints if she killed me." Amanda answered. Father Morris and Diana looked at Leona with suspicion; the pink-haired knight stepped towards her with a hand on her sword. Were the voices right in saying that the Order was only using her for their own ends? Would she be killed once she was no longer useful to them?

"Though they accosted her relentlessly, she stood firm and refused to accept their offer. That is why I am still here." Amanda added. Father Morris and Diana visibly relaxed. Leona, on the other hand, remained disturbed. If they were willing to turn on the blonde so quickly over mere suspicion that she was tempted to serve infernal powers, perhaps she should re-evaluate whether continuing to work with the Order of Lightbringers was a good idea. Maybe there was another way to get the knowledge on supernatural entities that she wanted for the guild without having to serve an order of paranoid clerics or risk eternal servitude to dark powers.

The rest of the conversation was a back-and-forth of words between the mages, but Leona was not paying much attention because she was wary of the Order. What was she afraid of? They were pledged to fight the darkness and preserve human life. Why would Thomas Beckit serve them if they were not a holy order? Maybe the whispers were trying to turn her against potential allies, but the actions of Father Morris and Diana were cause for concern.

Leona kept her distance from them and let them handle the book. She had completed her job for today. Father Morris walked into Holy Castle with the book, presumably to destroy it once and for all. Diana escorted the older cleric and Amanda remained outside with Leona.

"Well done, Leona. The Order will see to it that you get copies of the books you want. Continue to work with us and the rewards will be great." Amanda assured her. Leona simply nodded. She just wanted to get away from them because something was not right. She called upon her griffin and flew back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall with numerous questions floating through her mind. Chief among them was... what had she gotten herself into?

The Recovered Book:

[Word Count: 560]
[Total Word Count: 7,244/7,000]