Chapter 1

Azwan, the Golden City, Oasis of the Sands. Once glorious, once prosperous.

Current population: 1.

The city's sole occupant lounged idly on her throne, propping her head up on her slender, pale hand. It was just another day for Hilla, but hopefully whatever news Magnus was about to bring would be a welcome change.

"Where is he…" muttered Hilla. Wasn't the agreed time of meeting an hour ago? She had better things to do than to wait on the tardy Nova commander.

Well, sort of.

To be honest, there wasn't very much to do in Azwan after she -oh, I don't know,- sacrificed the lives of the city's entire populace to the Black Mage in return for power, beauty and youth. She could try to do something about all the sand blowing around the place, but the place was in the middle of the desert. Try as she would have liked, the sand was there to stay.

Eh, I'll just make a minion do it.

With a snap of her fingers, she summoned an undead soldier and conjured a broom, and occupied herself by staring a hole into the back of its skull as it swept away as best as it could at the sand. If it had a voice, it'd probably be grumbling away about being dragged away from eternal rest to do housekeeping.

It was hot, and Hilla was about to doze off, slumping forward in her throne, when-

CRASH

Azwan's heavy stone gates flew backwards like flimsy wooden doors, smashing into the walls behind them. With creaks of protest and audible snaps as the hinges gave out, the stone gates fell off, landing with audible thuds and throwing up a mushroom cloud of dust.

"What in Maple World," Hilla coughed, lifting a hand to shield her eyes. What bumbling buffoon would DARE to put a foot through her doors so carelessly? She was still a commander of the Black Mage after all!

She sighed, knowing exactly who it was simply because he put his foot through her beautiful gates. She would normally incinerate the fool and add their burnt and bloodied corpse to her undead ranks, but one, Arkarium would not approve, and two, he was irritatingly matched with her in power, the oaf.

"I'm here~" Magnus emerged through the dust cloud, a crumpled letter clenched in one of his large fists. "Missed me, witch?" he grinned.

Hilla sneered. "Hardly," she gestured at her poor, poor gates.

"The moment you stepped into my domain, you've already caused sizeable damage to my property. You don't see me trying to break your ugly statues when I visit the Citadel, do you? Those gates were antiques!"

"That's because you never visit the Citadel," Magnus scoffed. "It's too modern for your tastes, you ancient hag."

Hilla narrowed her eyes. Just because she was 300 years older than he was didn't mean that she was going to let him get away with that

"Please, as if being 700 years old means that you, dear Nova, are by any extension young. You've outlived or murdered everyone born within 100 years of you."

Magnus puffed out his chest at the affront, but she had a point. He was good, too good at picking off his foes. He wasn't the Tyrant of Heliseum for nothing.

"ANYWAY, let's get along with the reason I had to come to this blasted desert, shall we?" he said, holding out the letter. Hilla daintily plucked it out of his hands with undisguised disdain,

Magnus tugged uncomfortably at the collar of his armor. By the Transcendents, he was HOT, and not in a good way.

Hilla did her best to smooth out the mauled paper, and skimmed over the meticulously neat penmanship that could only be Arkarium's handwriting.

"Did you read over this beforehand?" she asked him.

Magnus shrugged. "Still haven't gotten the hang of the language in this dimension, especially the writing."

In short, he was illiterate when it came to the language in Maple World. Good to know.

"700 years and you still couldn't even get used to the writing?" Hilla ribbed him. "Why am I not surprised…"

Magnus huffed. "Unlike you, Miss Antique, I'm normally busy with other, more important matters," he snapped back, annoyed. He just wasn't very good when it came to recognizing words. "I don't get the liberty of spending all my time alone in my palace. I-" He sneezed. "Man, this place is dusty. Don't you invest in housekeeping?"

"Well," Hilla smiled flatly. "In case you don't notice, I'm surrounded by sand. It's a little hard to keep all of it out when I have open windows and destructive visitors. Now, back to business."

The letter read:

Hilla, Magnus,

Our sources have informed us that there has been a suspiciously high amount of magic activity in Heneseys. While I am hard pressed to send precious resources to investigate the matter, both of you are neither precious nor busy.

I expect both of you to fulfill your duties to the Black Mage, our lord and absolute ruler and carry out the task together, as is I have instructed. Proceed with utmost caution, as I have no further information available on the enemy's movements and would loathe to lose even more men, even if the men in question are underperforming snails.

Should either of you choose to disobey my order and refuse to cooperate, I would like to bring to your attention that Nagini has not had a live meal lately and would be thrilled to devour you two, whole. Make of that as you will.

Do not disappoint our master,
Arkarium

"What does it say?" Magnus asked, casting a shadow over the red-haired witch, trying to see if he could decipher anything over her shoulder. Beads of sweat had begun to trail down his neck, and he was seriously contemplating removing his chest plate. Was this why Hilla always dressed in next to nothing?

"The old man wants us to check out Heneseys. Some magical activity there or something," Hilla summarized.

"Yeah, magic stuff really doesn't agree with me. That's more your thing." One too many magic fireballs have toasted this Nova's sorry butt to have him willing and dumb enough to walk into yet another magic thing.

"Unless spending the next century and a half being digested by Arkarium's snake is on your agenda, we don't really have a choice."

Magnus groaned. The only thing he and the witch soundly agreed upon was their mutual hatred of the reptile. Nagini can go to the pits of hell for all they cared.

"Fine, but don't expect me to handle any magicians," he resigned himself to his fate.

"Like they'll be any match for me," Hilla sneered. "I didn't become a commander because I was weak."

"No, you became a commander because you sacrificed thousands of lives to the Black Mage. People would call that bribery."

"Shut it," Hilla growled. Thrusting her palm outwards, a swirling black portal materialized in front of her. "After you," she gestured towards it.

Magnus eyed it suspiciously. "This isn't another plot to kill me, right?"

Hilla rolled her eyes.

"Just go."

Have you ever thought about that moment of instant regret when you do something incredibly stupid, like throwing yourself off the peak of Perion trying to fly? Magnus could definitely relate.

The moment he stepped into the portal, he was free falling, plunging headfirst into infinite darkness with no end in sight, he felt his heart clamber into his throat as it braced itself for the ride.

It felt like an eternity, but eventually he was dropped unceremoniously face first into a particularly muddy patch of grass. Taking a moment for the world to stop spinning, Magnus opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back in Heneseys park.

A departure from the boiling heat of the desert, the rain pattered against his metal armor, the droplets of water seeping in through the seams sending a shiver up his spine.

"Lovely weather today," Hilla remarked, floating a few inches above the grass, her voluminous hair shielded by a magic field. "Never cared much for rain," she sniffed. "Get up, quick. We can't risk being seen." With a wave of her hand, and they were cloaked in camouflage magic.

Expecting and rightfully receiving no help from Hilla, Magnus hoisted himself onto his feet, the liquid still trickling down his back. Hilla didn't bother extending her magic umbrella. Shrugging, he followed her to the place they were supposed to stake out. The sooner he got this done and over with, the sooner he could return to his Citadel and have his lackey, Velde- something draw him a hot bath.

They came to a small mushroom house in the furthest corner of Heneseys, where not many adventurers pass by. With the rain, the chances of adventurers walking around were even less.

Hilla crouched behind a bush and gestured for Magnus to follow suit.

"There's definitely been a large amount of magic activity here recently, but it's not new," Hilla said, feeling out the place with her magic. "The magic was cast maybe a day or two ago."

"So, what should we tell Arkarium?" Magnus asked.

"I think it should be safe for you to investigate the house a little," Hilla suggested. "Arkarium's going to feed us to his damn snake if he thinks that we didn't do our job."

"Why me?" Magnus protested. Day old or not, magic was still magic. While magic had utility benefits, he still wasn't fond of being on the receiving end of a magic attack.

"Because," Hilla took a moment to roll her eyes. "If you mess up, it'll buy me some time to get away. Now go." She shooed him off.

Grumbling, Magnus could only complain about it under his breath and he squished and stomped towards the abandoned mushroom house. If there was a magician hiding in wait, Hilla would hear some choice words he had for her.

His great sword in one hand, Magnus gave the door a test push with the other. Unresisting, the wooden door swung backwards with a loud creak, revealing an empty interior.

The house was empty. Good. Now to just give the place a sweep and call it a day.

Magnus stepped into the house, somewhat glad to be out of the rain. Below his feet a puddle was quickly grew as water trickled down his armor and pooled.

The house smelt a little musty, as if no one had been in there for a while. Odd that Hilla claimed that magic was performed here just a day or two ago. The condition of the house had indicated otherwise.

He walked around the living area, just giving everything a check, when suddenly-

"Now who do we have here?" a voice murmured, amusedly.

Magnus whipped his head around, eyes narrowed and trying to find the source of the sound. Who was that? His hand tightened around the grip of his sword as he moved into a battle stance.

"What, no introductions? No pleasantries, or a nice to meet you?" the voice questioned, echoing around him. It sounded like the voice was everywhere at once, and Magnus couldn't pinpoint the source.

"Show yourself," he commanded, glad that his voice didn't waver in the least. "Come out and fight me like an honorable fighter."

The voice tsked.

"There you go again, assuming who I am. I never said I was a fighter, did I?"

Magnus grit his teeth. This was exactly why he didn't deal with magic users. There was nothing he could do if he couldn't see his opponent. He hated thieves for the exact same reason. Sneaky, dishonorable buggers.

"Relax, Magnus. Why so serious?" the voice taunted, giggling. "It's not like we're about to kidnap you."

"Oh wait, we are."

"Wha-"

Before Magnus knew what to do, a shockwave went through him, and the world around him began to spin. His limbs ignored his brain screaming at them to move, getting heavier with each passing second.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," the voice reassured him before darkness claimed him.

-~-~-~-
"What's taking him so long?" Hilla muttered as she peeked out from her hiding spot behind the bushes. How hard could it be to do a sweep of an EMPTY house? Sure, the Nova wasn't the brightest crystal in the cave, but even he could look around and see if anyone was hiding.

"Maybe I should just check with my magic one more time, to be safe," she told herself, opening her palm to scan over the area again.

Like she checked earlier, the magic was a day old at the very least. The people in there should have left, judging by the magical signature around the house.

Something didn't feel right.

Pouring a little more magic into her scan, Hilla's eyes widened.

There'd been a concealment spell cast over this area. They've been tricked!

Her mind kicked into overdrive, trying to come up with a plan.

Too late.

"Found you!" a voice cheered from behind.

THUNK.

And all Hilla saw was darkness.

-~-~-~-
The girl stepped out from the corner, shedding her cloak of shadows as she admired her handiwork.

The Nova commander was out cold, and if her spell held like she expected it to, he wouldn't wake up for another 8 hours, at the very least.

She had to do something about the fact that he was soaking wet, however. As sturdy as he was, she doubted that he was resistant to pneumonia.

"I found Hilla," her ginger-haired brother sang as he struggled to get the unconscious witch into the house. When he finally managed to, he dropped her unceremoniously next to Magnus on the hardwood floor.

"Man is she heavy."

Lily examined their handiwork. They'd done as their teacher Grendel the Wise had instructed them to. The trap worked.

Snapping her fingers, Lily ignited the logs in the fireplace and conjured up some towels and blankets. They should probably dry off the unconscious couple.

"Elwin," she called. "Help me move them to the fire and dry them off. We'll wait for further instructions."