9 Twin Brother

Before Cassandra stepped into the dusky shade of the forest canopy, she eyed the dark clouds looming over them. The smell of earth was already rich around her. Despite it, the air around her felt surprisingly clean and obviously moist.

"Young Lady, from here on, we cannot ride our horses. It will be very hard to bring one inside."

She shifted her head toward Steve who was riding his horse next to hers. She nodded and turned her attention toward the five guards following her. "We're leaving the horses here." The forest were off limits to any animals. Unless, of course, you wanted them dead.

"Young Lady, are you certain about this matter? We can always inform the master about the lost child. I am sure that the master would immediately—"

She shut him up with one glance. "Bring the horses back," she ordered.

"Young Lady—"

"I must go inside the forest. Tell grandfather that I insisted on going and I… I will be coming out alive." Or at least, that was what she saw.

Fate was a mysterious thing and the only constant about it was change. One moment, she could see herself dying in the hands of a stranger, and one moment she could see herself in the arms of that stranger.

The visions were unclear.

But she was adamant about leaving that place alive.

Steve's forehead furrowed as he stared at the determination in her face. "I will come to find you after twenty-four hours."

Without waiting for her to say anything, he turned his horse and let it walk a few steps away from her. "After twelve hours, I will inform the master of this matter."

Turning his head toward her, he sighed. "Please come back alive."

She chuckled at that. If one would think about it, Steve had been with her more than her real father did. He trained her together with her brother after the death of their parents and was one of the people who had treated her like a proper human being despite being… unmarried.

Of course, it could be because Steve himself was still unmarried despite his age.

"I will," she said as her feet reached the damp ground. She patted her black stallion and whispered, "I will be back, Mina. Stay away from the forest." A smile appeared on her face when the horse moved its head as if she understood her meaning.

The forest was dark and dangerous for animals who grew up outside. It is a place with thick dark energy, a place where demons could show up anytime.

"Let's go!" Cassandra gestured for the men to follow her inside. She and the five guards started trekking forward.

"Be careful of the mosses. Sometimes, a snake would hide inside. It's poisonous." She warned as her gaze landed on the kelp like colored moss that was on the dead trees nearby.

She tilted her head upward as she eyed the canopy that was more than thirty meters tall. They were still in the inner parts of the forest and yet the canopy was already hiding them from the sun. Coupled with the dark skies, it made the whole forest darker, and gloomier.

"There is a cave nearby, the kid should be hiding there," one of the guards said.

She recalled his name as Wuma. He was tall and an expert in swords. Sadly, he could not use the elements.

"Anyone who has the ability to use fire, do not use it right now. It might come in handy later," another one said. Those people were all from the La Roche Family and yet not all of them could conjure fire. Blame it on genetics.

Being a conjurer wasn't something that everyone was born with.

If a fire conjurer would marry someone who did not have the ability to conjure, there was a possibility that the child couldn't conjure any elements. As long as a conjurer married someone that could conjure the fire, the line would continue.

Both of her parents could conjure fire. Meaning, she and Carmichael were also fire conjurers. Everything could be traced back to the legends thousands of years before she was born.

It was said that the Gods and Dragons had a war against the Dark Ones. It was said that the Dark Ones wanted to conquer Earth and turn mortals into slaves. Luckily, the Gods helped the humans.

In the end, they won.

To reward the humans who helped them, they gave them abilities and sealed Zealandia from the eyes of the ordinary mortals. They then tasked the Zealandians to protect the mortals from the dark ones and demons that would want to wreak havoc in the mortal world.

Obviously, the legends were very old, and not many people believed it anymore. Some of them hadn't even heard about these legends. However, Cassandra was different. As someone that could see the future, she believed that the gods indeed had given mortals some abilities. However, as time progressed, the war caused by human selfishness ruined Zealandia.

According to the legends, the mortals were given the ability to morph into Lycans, Conjure Elements and Create Spells. However, because of the war, the only people who survived were the conjurers - like her and her family and most people inside Zealandia. Lycan's were considered rare and the people who could use spells were extinct.

Unbeknownst to most people, there was another mortal that was given the ability to see the future. They were once called Sybills.

The Sybills had stopped a few wars, killed leaders and one even changed the whole structure of the church. Because of it… they were hunted. She recalled reading about a certain Sybill that could actually create talismans and use elemental magic using it. She and her husband, destroyed the church and caused a lot of problem in the past.

Because of that, many people of power hated the ability of the Sybills.

"Young Lady, according to the maps, the cave should be after that boulder. However, It is really getting dark. Shall we— "

"Fire would only attract wild animals." She immediately cut the man off. "Don't worry about me. I can defend myself."

"But Young Lady, Mr. Steve said – "

"Steve is not here," she said without looking at the man who spoke. "Just don't break the formation and we will be fine."

The formation that she was talking about was something that she had come up with, based on their abilities. It was a close-out formation that her mother had taught her when she was a kid.

At that moment, they had two swordsmen who could easily slay anyone that would run toward them.

Because of that, she put the two swordsmen in the front. On the second column were the three people that could conjure elements. At the center, none other than Cassandra, the strongest conjurer of them. And the last person behind them was another knight that specialized in archery and fighting with daggers.

Cassandra immediately turned alert when she saw the knight in front of her raise his palms, a quiet sign telling them to be prepared as they had company.

"Hmmm? It seems like someone was foolish enough to come into the forest at this hour..."

The group heard the voice before they saw a shadow walking out of the shade of the huge tree in front of them. However, Cassandra's eyes were not focused on the man who walked out of the shade. Rather, she was staring at the two men bounded by what looked like dark ropes, black and blue bruises littering their pale faces.

Cassandra took mere seconds to notice that one of them looked a lot like her. Recognition flashed in her eyes as it met the man's arctic blue ones. Carmichael La Roche… her twin brother.