Magic Ascension - Chapter 001: Suppression

Okawa took out a pair of glasses, clearing her throat as she put them on and got out several pieces of parchment. "Well, there is much to go through, but I'll be brief. Little Magiana seems to have fallen victim to the hands of the cultists that dwell in Shina Ania. Poor Aquario must feel such despair over her..." She trailed off to herself. "Unfortunately, there was little to go off of other than what little we could gather through witness testimony." She gestured toward Olivia. "She and a select few were not able to see the spell itself being performed, but from what she knows, it somehow caused a soul to be bonded with Magiana's. To make matters worse, it's a soul belonging to the family of King Khalid. Practically a direct descendant."

"S-she is terrifyingly hostile. You could feel it permeating the air... like it isn't enough to just be angry... everyone else must feel the full extent of her hatred." Olivia gripped her arms tightly as she shook from the memory. "Contained inside that tiny body is a powerful fiend. Not a Queen... she doesn't seem human..."

"It's impossible to determine what ritual was done to achieve this exactly, but text suggests that for a soul of a decedent who left this plane long ago to have been brought into this one and into a different living body, it has to be a form of Ancient Magic. A capital offense of the highest degree." Okawa said firmly. "Not only does it defy the laws of nature, but with two souls in one body, there's clearly going to be some tug of war going on between them for control. Many a time, Olivia has used a Suppression technique to limit how often this 'Queen' tries to take over Magiana's body in the few times I allow her to be awake, but the more we use it, I fear the less effective it will be. To make matters worse... we're running out of time."

"What do you mean, running out?" Asuza asked, staring at Okawa from the side. The entire time Okawa was explaining the gravity of the situation, her left hand slowly curled into a fist and left dark scorch marks on the table's finish. There was a slight smell of burnt wood near her seat.

"If we don't try and get this soul out soon, King Khalid has warned that the souls can.... merge into one. It will be irreversible by then." The woman replied gravely, sitting back down. "I don't believe it's happened yet, but she can't be asleep forever, and neither can we afford for her to be awake very long if it will cause destruction to follow her. Regardless of whether it's Ancient Magic, there must be a cure or counterspell."
 
Bob rubbed his chin as he listened to Okawa. “Soul-Bonding… That's definitely Ancient Magic. It is very, very dangerous, but quite effective once you are able to pull it off. You can practically become immortal, as long your soul remained intact, by body-jacking using it. Though, it is quite surprising that the soul is an ancestor of the King of Shina of all things. I wonder how Magiana was able to fight it off all these times, even with the suppression ability. Poor girl." 

“Cultists…” Liza twitches a bit, then broke out a creepy smile. “So, this gil [Olivia] is supposedly able to suppress the soul from taking over fully, but it won't prevent it forever. So, with that said, our purpose here is to go on a hunt to find a cure? How do we go about that?”

“We have some information that a researcher in Magician Square might help with the huh....Soul Bonding.” Ballows said. “However, it seems that she will only respond to Okawa.” 

“She seems very critical to speak only to her—since she one of the few people that understands “darkness”. It is probably some fangirl, but it’s something to start off with. Hence why we are sending Okawa along you guys for this adventure.” Tort added on. “Plus, this is a good opportunity for Okawa to exercise her new title.” Tort turns to Okawa. “Heard many stories about her time here, and I personally want to see her in action.” Tort eyed Asuza for a second, still remembering the request to her to meet with him for training purposes.

“We originally wanted to go, but we still have mountain of paperwork to do and process for the Magic Society. Okawa had been keeping a close eye on her for months, so it is natural for her to take the case. You guys will be escorting her and provided her support.” Ballows said. “You are the most capable, as Grand Sorceress Z said.”
 
"Your mission will be to stick with Lady Okawa and help her acquire the information needed from the researcher in Magician Square~ I'm sure most of you are quite familiar with the area, so it should be no issue~" Z said as she gazed at the group.

"Errm, Master Z?" Faunix spoke up softly.

"But why can't you fix the girl, mom?" Nicori spoke out. "Aren't you strong enough?"

"I am afraid my spells are too powerful and I might end up hurting the young girl~ I am also unfamiliar with Ancient Magic and its properties~" Z sighed before shifting through a few papers in front of her. "Time is of the essence~! I will make a portal for you to appear in Magician Square but you will need to make the journey back here~ Find a way to separate the two souls and bring back any spells or texts that will aid the girl~ I will try my best to decipher the works and help calm the child~"

Z paused for a moment as she read a few of the notes Faunix wrote down for her.

"Excuse me, Master Z?" Faunix said again.

"Ah yes, I nearly forgot~! Aquario will be traveling with you in search of a cure as well~ I believe he's the girl's teacher when she first started with us~ He's quite skilled so I am quite sure he will come in handy~"

As soon as Z mentioned the name, the doors opened with a mysterious man standing on the other side. He had long dark blue hair, navy blue robes, and a belt with various potions and a spellbook neatly and securely tied to his waist. His wand upgraded to a staff with a light blue gem on the top. His face showed dark circles around his eyes, proving he barely slept in all this time. He pushed his glasses up and entered the room bowing to the group then the Higher Ups.

"Forgive me for being late, Master Z," Aquario said. "I was busy with research."

"Everyone, this is Aquario~ He focuses mainly on water-based magic but he knows a wide variety of elemental moves~ He was the top magic user during the times of the Sisterhood, so believe me, he's quite knowledgable in certain fields~"

"Pleasure to meet you all." Aquario bowed his head again.

"Now then, you all have your mission~ Escort Lady Okawa to the researcher in Magician Square and bring back any spells and tools that will aid in saving the girl~ Use this time to prepare accordingly~"

Z clapped her hands and two large portals appeared before the group.

"There are two portals before you~ The one to the left will supply you any magical supply you may need~ Potions, wands, snacks, you name it~ Simply stick your hand through the portal with the item you wish to get and it will magically appear in your hand when you pull it back out~ The portal on the right takes you to the gates of Magician Square where your journey will begin~"

"Master Z?" Faunix said yet again.

Nicori moved to the portal on the left and stuck his hand in before pulling out an apple. "Hey, what about the girl? Who's going to take care of her when Miss Okawa and Mr. Aquario are gone?"

"Worry not, I will send Z-clones to check on her status as well as allow Faunix, Ballows, Tort, and Lix to do hourly inspections~ Rest assured she will be perfectly safe while you are on your journey~ Now then, are there any questions you have for us before you depart~? Now would be a good time to ask~"
 
Vox says "I trust that we will be given a way to seal or have this "queen" pass on."
 
Tort raised a brow at Z’s statements to the group—giving out completely different tasks at hand. “Hmm? They are escorting Magiana to the researcher. Don't go shoving them off somewhere without giving them proper information.” His black flames flare quite a bit, being a bit annoyed at Z’s declarative statements. 

“Disregard mostly everything she said.” Tort added on. “Your mission is to escort Grandmaster Okawa and Magiana to the Magician Square and speak with the researcher who has information regarding Soul-bonding.”

Ballows sweated a bit. “Indeed. Olivia is needed to suppress the Queen, which none of us possessed the ability to do so ourselves. So, it'll benefit Magiana's safety for her to go along with them. We cannot risk the Queen appearing and we have no defense against that."

Liza scratched her head. “Ahh… the gist of it is escorting these women and find this researcher.” She stared at Aquario, but not impressed by his stance. "Magiana's teacher... I see..."

“Sounds reasonable enough.” Bob said. “A way to break the soul-bond. I wonder if such possibility exist?”
 
"What~? I was reading off the notes Faunix...gave...me~" Z looked down at the important notes that mentioned Magiana accompanying the group. They had many scribbles and doodles on them. Z cleared her throat. "A-Anywho~ Tort is correct, Magiana will accompany you on your journey as well~ Please keep a watchful eye over her and Lady Okawa~ Errm, pardon my... confusion...~"

Faunix sighed as he covered his face to avoid people seeing him embarrassed. Lix was chuckling softly next to him.

"She wasn't prepared." Faunix groaned. "How can she be so strong but so... dense?"

"It's just her way of living, Faunix." Lix shrugged. "Get used to it, she's nothing like Shine."

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"There's just a few things we have to be concerned about. Olivia can subdue the Queen if she tries to take over the body, but I would really prefer no emotional disturbances come her way. After what happened to her in Shina Ania, being outside of the Sisterhood without me or Aquario present could rouse some anxiety... that and..." Okawa trailed off and stared at Asuza, who had her arms crossed and looked annoyed about the mixed signals being tossed at them back and forth. She also eyed Aquario but didn't give off any impression.

"I don't want to subject her to any excessive emotional distress. But we don't want complications during the escort. Hmm..." she stood up from the table and looked around the room for several moments until she got an idea, and quickly bowed her head. "I'll have to excuse myself for a few minutes to see Magiana once more. Mr. Aquario, Olivia, please come with me. I'll need you both to step out for a few minutes to ensure everything goes smoothly... in private, since I'm going to try something. Everyone else can get ready for the mission." Okawa stated before heading for the meeting room's doors. Asuza tried to get out of her chair, but the woman raised a hand to her face before gesturing for Asuza to stay put.

"Me? S-sure, okay!" Olivia was eager to be anywhere besides sitting near Liza and her creepy demeanors. "Gotta go--"

Asuza clicked her tongue indignantly before propping her feet up on the table. "Damn. Back to Magician Square huh? I didn't enjoy my trip over there much the last time... well, it'll be better than trekking blindly through a blizzard in the mountains."
 
“So, we have to prepared while they chit-chat…?” Liza looked at the portal to see various items, but she was looking for “dark stuff”.

“Man, Liza sure have changed quite a bit.” Bob said to Vox. “Almost didn’t recognized her.” Bob see Okawa walked away towards her room, encouraging Olivia and Aquario to come with them. “I wonder what’s all that about… Asuza. I heard that is your little sister, right? You haven’t noticed any significant improvements with her personally?”

----

“That makes me wonder. What happened to Black Shadow? She hadn’t appeared here for quite some time.” Tort said.

“She’s still on her own personal mission. She won’t be back for some time.” Ballows answered. “Grand Sorceress, I don’t mean disrespect, but you gots to take these things seriously. You’re the face of the Magic Council and the entirely of Paradice now. You should act more prepared these days.”
 
"Little sister?" Nicori tilted his head. "Oh, that's right! That girl is your little sister, right 'Suza? Yeesh... this must be a huge burden on you. I can only imagine the worries you get." Nicori scratched his head awkwardly, trying to think of something positive to tell her. "Errm, but don't worry so much, 'Suza. I'm sure Mom and Miss Okawa will make her all better again. We just gotta help them a little bit."




Aquario nodded to Okawa and bowed his head to the Elites and the group.

"Please pardon me for a moment."

Aquario followed Okawa with Olivia outside the meeting room.



"I suppose so...~" Z sighed. "I'm just overwhelmed by all the massive piles of paperwork and other things I am tasked to do~ Ever since Shine left, his burden passed on to me~ I barely have time for my naps anymore...~ I usually left the important decisions to Shine as well as all of the paperwork~ I do miss him greatly...~"

Z frowned slightly before staring at the papers before her.

"But I will try to better my performance, even if it means fewer naps and isolation~"

I only hope it will not lead to trouble later on~
 
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