Magic Ascension - Chapter 001: Suppression

"Right..." Aquario sighed upon seeing Magiana's state however it was not the first time he saw her like this. Every time he happens to see her it fills him with despair. 

Aquario thought for a brief moment before holding up his staff and allowing the tip to glow a pale blue color. He concentrated silently until gently tapping the tip of the staff on Magiana's forehead, the iridescent glow seemingly absorbed into the girl's body. Magiana would begin to have dreams about being a high-class mage and mastering her magical abilities. With her strong magic, she would be capable of saving those in trouble and perform amazing feats. He was careful not to show any family or friends in her dreams.

"There, she should be a little more at peace for now. Hopefully, this makes it easier to alter her memories."



"Looks like 'Suza is pretty popular, huh?" Nicori giggled. "Isn't that right, Mom?"

Z did not reply because she was asleep on the top podium. Her head was on top of all the paperwork she needed to do and her eyes were a solid black color, indicating her sleep. She snored peacefully as she seemed completely exhausted.

"There she goes..." Faunix said with a chuckle. "I guess Master Z is still not used to all the paperwork and meetings she has to attend to."

"She's been getting less sleep. Good, the imp needs to pull her weight some more anyway." Lix added. "She should be more hardworking like Master Shine, I think this is a good lesson for her."

"Maybe, but I feel kinda bad for her. She has to pick up a lot of slack from both sides and represent an entire society. She can't even use her clones since she physically has to attend all meetings and whatnot. It must be draining for her, physically and mentally."
 
“That’s the life of the Grand Sorceress, I’m afraid. Master Z will have to big up the slack and represent the good of our people. We already got a bad reputation for making evil mages, that people are opting to teach themselves rather than come to us.” Ballows sigh.

“And that’s why we need this mission to be successful.” Tort said. “If we can reverse the effects of that ancient magic, we might regain our good reputation back, and save the girl.”

Bob frowned. “Can I at least take a look at it? I ain’t gonna steal it!”

“But I do have a question, for the grand council. Supposed we take this girl’s sister, and all that. What happens when none of that works? Then what? Do we kill her?” Liza asked. "Maybe Vox can end her suffering...kukukuku" 

Ballows turns to Tort, the latter also in concern. “No, we ain’t going to kill her!!! That’s nowhere near in our minds. We just have to keep watch after that until we find a way.”
 
Vox says as he pomp some potions him self "Odds are it's some thing that will help with fire magic Bob. The question is how big of a deal they will make this after we finished."
 
Magiana settled into her bed giving a pleased hum to herself. The grip on Olivia's hand loosened.

Okawa nodded, stepping forward and waving her wand, whispering an incantation under her breath until a soft glowing ball of light began to form above Magiana's head, amorphous until it slowly formed into what looked like a floating book, pages and all. They were Magiana's memories. Okawa took the mystical shears and began flipping through the pages categorically until she reached the sections concerning her family. Grasping the sections one at a time, she slid the scissors' blades through the material in one smooth movement. Over time as she worked snipping out memories containing Asuza or her family, pages neatly drifted up into the air like feathers. 

All that was needed was to stitch the gaps and fill them in with generic memories of happiness with her mother. Okawa didn't want to completely sever the bond. 

"Alright... that's all of them. They'll turn into mist soon, so seal it all and we'll see how it worked out."

Olivia caught a page between her fingers, examining it briefly to see it play out like a small looping clip of the two sisters playing together as children. With a sad smile, she let it float back up with the others, a small sigh escaping her lips. "Poor you."
==================

Asuza pulled her arms out of the portal, not turning around as the conversation took a dark turn in topic. She took a few steps up to meet the back of Liza's chair, gripping it with two hands.

"Hey... what was that you were laughing about just now?" Her voice was low with a flat tone, leaning over the chair slightly to look at Liza from over the shoulder. 

"I'm sorry, it seems I didn't quite catch the joke... maybe you'll answer differently if I ask you to explain why it's so funny." Asuza stared down at her with a vacant expression betraying her piercing gaze, her hands tightening onto the chair and scratching down burn marks into the wood. "Explain it to me while sitting on this flammable piece of furniture."
 
Aquario frowned upon witnessing Magiana's memories, including the few she had of him on their short adventure. As Okawa snipped away at the memories of her family, Aquario lifted his staff slightly as the tip's end began to glow. The floating memories would begin to circle around his staff while the mage pulled out a solid black vial with strange moving symbols painted in gold. As the memories circled the staff, they would pick up speed until they were nothing more than a blur of white and blue. Aquario said nothing as he held the vial up in the air, allowing it to float high above them. The cork of the magical vial popped off as the memories of Magiana spun so fast, they liquified. Familiar with the element, Aquario slowly pointed the staff towards the vial as the liquified memories formed a current that entered the vial. The symbols on the vial shifted around until they formed the name 'Magiana', remaining static from then onward.

"That should do it," Aquario said as he held out his hand, allowing the vial to gently land on it. The mage plugged the opening with the cork, making sure it was sealed tightly. "Her memories are protected within this vial. I will protect it with all my might."



"H-Hey! Let's not get too hasty, 'Suza..!" Nicori said, sweating. "I'm sure Liza didn't mean anything she said! M-Maybe it's just a sick sense of humor!"

"The death of a child is rather humorous..." Lix said to himself.

"You're not helping..." Faunix sighed.

"Worry not, 'Suza, I will try to make your sibling as comfortable as possible should things turn sour...~" Z yawned. "You went out of your way to help my little troublemaker, so I am in your debt~"
 
“It’s only a joke…” Liza shrugged her shoulders. “Well, mostly. You do have to think about this kind of stuff. What if it doesn’t work, and whatever that is inside of her remains?”

“I appreciate that you don’t go around and burn things down… cool your temper.” Tort’s voice wasn’t in a scolding fashion; in fact, he was hiding his own anger upon Liza’s mere suggestion. “That’s not on the table. You best learn to hold that tongue of yours, it reeks of venom as of late. If this mission doesn’t provide enough care to assist Magiana and this soul-bonding situation, we simply have to look elsewhere.”

Feeling resentment from everyone around them, Liza lowered her head. “….I’ll be careful next time.” She turned away from Asuza to avoid making any eye-contact. Last thing she needed was for her to attack her for her comments.

Bob pulled out a small towel, wiping his head from sweat due to the sudden burst of heat in the room. “Uh, that aside, do we know anything about the Queen aside from her connection with the King? I wasn’t even aware they had Queens during Shina Anina.”

Ballows took a deep breath. “Uh, yeah. We do know that the Watchers Cult is behind them… but Olivia has more information on them than us, to be frank. They’re operational in Shina Ania… we don’t usually have fanatics groups nor cults here…” She trailed off her sentence a bit. “…Well, single crazes one, but not a collective force.”
 
Vox says unaffected by the sudden heat "the simple truth is in the unlikely event we fall we report and we f**k off, Liza."
 
"Good. I know you will," Okawa gave Aquario a nod, smiling as she gave his shoulder a light squeeze in support. The both of them were in the same position of keeping watch over their pupils-- it was a painfully lonesome feeling to struggle with alone. The bright side was she could sympathize with him considering Asuza and Magiana were sisters. "Let's wake up our little Sleeping Beauty and see how we did," she said as she quietly strode over to the bed. Sayer hopped down the headboard and onto Magiana's torso, giving a series of chirps at her to wake her.

"Mm... noooo, five more minutes..." Magiana groaned, earning a caw from Okawa's familiar.

"Come now, dear, it's time for your lunch. Too much sleep can be a bad thing," the mage spoke gently.

Magiana sat up in her bed, hair sticking out in messy angles, as she rubbed her eyes out of grogginess. "Oh... Miss Okawa, good morning... I didn't know I'd get visitors today-- I'd have changed into a nicer outfit." She looked around the room and her expression brightened considerably once she saw Aquario. "Mr. Aquario, hello! Sorry I haven't been studying very much... I just get so sleepy all the time." Magiana blushed sheepishly.

"Worked like a charm-- I'll let everyone know so we're on the same page," Olivia bowed her head to excuse herself, slipping through the crack of the door. Magiana looked at Okawa and Aquario with mild confusion.


Asuza narrowed her eyes at the sound of those who tried to dispel the sudden tension in the room. She gave a light scoff before taking her hands off the chair, crossing her arms with her glare redirected towards a wall. "Alright, alright..."

Olivia slowly opened the doors of the meeting hall and peeked her head in, completely unaware of the sudden change in mood around the room. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything... Magiana's awake. The mages decided to ensure a safe mission by altering her memory a bit. Nothing permanent, just a precaution so Magiana won't be prone to emotional outbursts."

"What about her memory?" Asuza asked gruffly.

"Not too drastic, really... just try to keep the fact you're sisters to yourselves. As far as she thinks, she's an only child." Olivia rubbed her neck, uncomfortable under the fire mage's gaze which briefly flickered to an unreadable emotion. "I guess it's complicated."

"Yeah." Asuza sat back down in her chair, propping her feet on the table. "It's better that way, so don't hurt your head over it."
 
“Whatever… as long we don’t get to do anything else.” Liza responded to Cross in kind but didn’t say anything more than that to avoid getting on Asuza’s nerves. Upon Olivia poking her head in and discuss about altering Magiana’s memory, she was mere seconds on making a joke.

However, Bob tapped her shoulder with a disapproving look on his face. Just as quickly as she thought, she’d back down.

“Would that suppress the Queen that rests in her soul during our expedition?” Bob asked the mercenary.
 
(I forgot about posting here!)

Aquario smiled upon seeing Magiana's cheerful expression and placed a hand on top of her head trying to fix her hair a little.

"It's nice to see you up and about, Magiana," The mage chuckled. "Don't worry about your studies, you have plenty of time to catch up. More importantly, I hope you're feeling okay after your nap."



Nicori frowned at the situation between Asuza and her sister, feeling bad for the girls. He was not sure of what to do in a situation like this so all he could really do is offer his support to Asuza. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and tried to make Asuza feel better somehow.

"Hey, don't worry 'Suza. I'll keep a real close eye on your sis'," Nicori whispered. "That way you won't have to worry so much. I promise to be extra careful too."
 
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