Chapter 5

It's been about a week since Wendy first explored the town. Since then she has decorated her room with various stuffed animals, rugs, and little knick knacks that caught her eye. It's only been a short time but she can already feel herself properly settling into the new environment. One thing she's enjoyed doing is watching her Aunt make some mouth watering dishes, while listening to tales of her youth at school. Miranda tends to laze about during the day. Sometimes she disappears at night, bringing various little objects and creatures along with her. Recently it seems the baby duck fairies have taken a liking to her, often following her around the pond on the side of the house.

It's about late afternoon and Wendy is lying in bed reading a book on venomous plants when a knock is heard at the door. 

"One moment!"

Aurelia opens the door to find a tall slender woman in an elegant sundress. She is strikingly beautiful, with a charming smile and skin that seems to glow in the sunlight. To her left is a tough looking mage from house knightstar, with what appears to be a large hammer on his back. To her right, a girl with large round glasses and fiery red hair. She is holding a staff nearly twice her size. 

"Ah! Lady Elea, please come in."

Wendy and Mr Hoppington help her aunt bring out some tea for everyone. The large knight awkwardly sips from the tiny teacup, his hammer lying against the wall. The girl, however, stands guard outside, watching Miranda strut about with a train of duck fairies close behind.

"I didn't expect you to deliver it yourself Lady Elea, I was actually about to make a trip to town this evening."

"Well for such a special request, I had to come deliver it in person. It gives me an excuse to see the girl myself." 

Lady Elea smiles at Wendy and places her cup down on the table.

"Ah, you remind me of your mother in her youth. Same bright blue hair and eyes, runs in the family I see."

Lady Elea motions for the knight, who brings forth a package from his bag, handing it to Wendy.

"It's not often the world sees a new sorcerer, so I knew I had to make something special just for you. I'm sure you'll grow to enjoy it." 

Wendy opens the package to reveal an intricately designed wand that seems a little too large for her hand. Vines run along from the base to the tip with a spiral at the far end hanging off. 

A crystal eye opens at the large end and the wand begins to shrink, conforming to her hand until it's a perfect fit. 

"Good day young miss, you-"

"Ah!"

Wendy throws the wand onto the floor. It floats up in front of her face, seemingly annoyed.

"Ahem! As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me. My name is Wilfort Brimstone. I am the inhabitant of this wand and was created by Lady Elea to help you on your new journey."

"If you weren't aware, Wendy, I am the creator of Cat Co. Lately we've been experimenting with sentient catalysts in the hopes of helping even the most magically inefficient person have access to what we use every day. In this day and age, everyone should be able to use magic, not just mages born with the ability to do so. Granted it's still in the testing phase, but I'm sure Wilfort here will be more than adequate enough to help you as you grow."

"Indeed my lady. And I swear with every fiber of my being to assist the young miss in reaching her true potential."

"Thank you Wilfort. Now Wendy, how about you give it a go? I'd love to see what you're capable of."

Aurelia places her hand on Wendy's shoulder. 

"Actually, could you wait outside for a bit? There's something I need to discuss with Lady Elea"

"I see... Alice dear, could you come here for a moment."

The girl standing guard outside pushes open the door, her staff knocking against the entryway as she tries to make her way inside.

"You are hereby relieved of your duty for the time being. How about the two of you play outside? Just don't wander too far, okay?"

"Yes, my lady."

The girls wander around the outside of the house, with Alice being captivated by Miranda's behavior. 

"Is she yours?"

"Yes, her name is Miranda."

"Miranda? Ahhhh, such a pretty name." 

She stands up straight, extending out her hand. 

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Alice, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"You can call me Wendy!"

The girls are following Miranda, who seems to have noticed them trailing her into the forest. They try to sneak behind, lowering their voice so she can't hear and keeping a bit of distance. After a while they seem to have lost her. 

"I thought I just saw her over here, maybe she ducked into the bushes?"

Unbeknownst to them, Miranda has been observing them from a tree branch above for the past 10 minutes.

"...so is it true?"

"Is what true"

"That you're the new sorcerer?"

"Yea, I guess. But i'm still trying to understand it all"

"It's ok, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. Do you know any spells yet? I can teach you something simple if you'd like."

"Are you sure? I don't want to bother you"

"Oh, it's not a bother at all. Now, stay right there." 

Alice walks a few paces away and raises her staff in the air.

"Ok, so follow my lead. You see that spider-apple sleeping in the tree above? Watch carefully"

Wendy hadn't noticed before, but a hairy looking apple can be seen above hanging off a nearby branch. Alice points her staff toward it and closes her eyes. Bright green energy swirls around her staff creating a small concentrated ball at the tip. As she opens her eyes, the accumulated energy shoots out, piercing a hole through the spider apple which falls to the ground. It twitches for a second before going motionless. 

"Whoah, how did you do that?"

"You just have to concentrate. Let the mana flow through you, hold it for a moment, and then release it."

"Ok, let me try it."

Wendy takes Wilfort out of her pocket and aims at the closest spider apple. As she closes her eyes she hears a loud crack and feels a sudden sharp pain in her legs as she falls flat on her face. 

"Wendy!"

Opening her eyes, she sees Alice is running in front of a small boar with streaks of jagged yellow running along its body. As it charges towards her, a loud crack fills the air and Alice rolls out of the way just in time for it to smack into a tree. The boar quickly recovers and runs in circles around the girls, hopping from tree to tree until it tries to attack them again. Alice manages to quickly evade, smacking it out of the air with her staff and sending it barreling into the brush.

Alice plants her staff into the ground, feeling triumphant. 

"YEA! TAKE THAT!"

After a moment of taking it all in, she turns to Wendy, offering to help her up from the floor. But something seems different at that moment. Maybe it was the adrenaline rushing through her body, or the warm feeling in her legs, but everything around them seems to have slowed down almost to a standstill. It was almost peaceful in a way.

That's when Wendy sees it. A giant black and yellow boar flying through the air, mere seconds away from them both emerging from the brush. She tries to think of what to do. Wilfort is too far to reach in time, and by the time she stands up, the boar might kill them both. 

Almost instinctively she closes her eyes, feeling a surge of mana flowing through her in that moment. Opening her eyes, Wendy raises her hand and lets loose a powerful bolt of water. It flies past Alice, hitting the boar head on.

Time seems to slowly return to normal as the body of the large beast slides along the ground. Alice stands, staring at Wendy almost frozen in fear for several seconds. She manages to regain control of herself and finally turns around to see the body of the giant thunder boar at her feet. She touches her cheek as she feels something warm trickle down her face, and looking at her hand, she begins breathing heavily as she sees her blood.

The yellow streaks of the boar begin to dissipate and laughter can be heard all around them, growing in volume. Alice crouches down, covering her head, attempting to regain control of her breathing.

 'AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA, that was a close one, ey? You could have really died there.'

Wendy watches as the small flickering flame at the end of Alice's staff grows in size, popping out from the tip. A rather large flame sprite with large eyes that stare into your soul and sharp teeth with an elongated tongue cackles as it begins flying around and snatching up the boar by its tusks. 

"Can I have this one? It'll be fiiiiine riiiiiight Allie?"

Alice is noticeably annoyed by this creature, not even bothering to look it in the eyes as she growls at the creature in anger. 

"Stop calling me that..."

"AHAHAHAHAHA ALLIE, ALLIE ALLIE! What's wrong Allie, you maaaad huh? Am I anoooooying youuuu? AHAHAHAHAHA."

She regains control of herself, screaming at the top of her lungs. The hair over her right eye lifts just long enough for Wendy to see two multicolored eyes full of rage.

"JUST GO AWAY ALREADY!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA" 

The flame sprite grows in size and tosses the giant boar into the air, swallowing it in one bite. It begins deflating like a balloon and swirls around them, cackling for a bit before being sucked back into the staff.

The girls walk back to the house with Miranda leading the way in front, having now jumped down from the tree out of boredom. They all walk in silence, wanting the day to just be over already. The sun is starting to set as they get back onto the main path.

The adults are seen waiting for them outside as they round the hill. The large knight walks up to Alice as they approach. He stops before her and kneels down, face to face with her.

He gives the girls a quick once over and wipes the blood from her cheek 

"What happened?"

"We were attacked by some boars, but it's nothing I couldn't handle."

He ruffled her hair, giving her a reassuring grin.

"Good on you, protecting the little miss. Never forget your purpose and why we were chosen to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. Use this day as another lesson going forward."

"Yes sir."

After saying their farewells, Lady Elea and her knights rushed off toward town. Hearing that star fruit pies were back in season, they wasted no time in making their exit. Given that the day was already nearly over, it'd be a miracle if they managed to get a single slice, given its popularity.

"Well, guess I don't have to pick up our order anymore. So what would you like for dinner?"