“The house?” Henry asked with surprise, but Ash asked with horror.

  Soraya crossed her arms over her chest and let out a low, drawn-out sigh. “As I rode up, I noticed that it got colder and colder. I assumed it was the shadows casted by the mountains, but then the presence grew stronger as I approached the manor grounds.”

  “What do you mean presence?” Henry asked.

  “Your mom told you that exorcists need a special physique, yes? Many people in the magic order have holy magic to some extent, that’s why there are so many low-level clerics. The more holy power one has, the better they can control and consolidate it. Paladins use holy magic to enhance their strength, stamina, and speed. Aside from holy magic, there is the sensitivity to spiritual energy, which encompasses holy magic at one end, all the way down to demonic entity on the other. In between, there is the ability to sense specters.

  “That’s the special physique I and other exorcists have,” she told them. “We can sense the souls of the dead.”

  Ash’s eyes dilated. “Are you saying you can see dead people?” Henry couldn’t control his arm as he smacked his brother. He shot him an irritated look as Ash rubbed his arm. “It’s a valid question!”

  Soraya gave him a nod, though there was some amusement in her eyes. “In a way, I do see dead people.”

  Ash smacked Henry’s arm back and scowled. “See!” Henry rolled his eyes.

  Soraya smiled. “But we’re talking the way you can see magic.”

  Ash nodded, as if enlightened. “Oh....”

  “Wait.” Henry stood up straight and looked at his brother. “What do you mean you can see magic?”

  “I can see magic,” Ash replied, as if the answer were obvious in the sentence. Henry continued to give him a confused expression and he sighed. “Okay, magic is just energy. In the air, in everything, there is energy. Most mages can sense it to varying degrees, but I can see it. It’s like a faint smoke with varying densities and sensations. Magic is just manipulating these energies. Master said that because I can see it, my ability was easily sharpened. She said this is very rare. Even the books only mention a handful of mages who could see.”

  Henry blinked. “Then...can you see my spirits?”

  “Only when they appear to you,” Soraya replied. “Spirits reside in the spirit planes for the most part and are only visible when they are summoned by their master.”

  “The point is that Aunt Soraya says that house has a presence,” Ash said. He looked back at her. “Do you know why? Tragedy? Secret burial site? Dark, sinister secret society ritual?”

  “Natural energy alignment that focused on the house. There is naturally a lot of dead energy there because of the position of that hill constantly in the shadows, but the house gave the energy somewhere to collect, so now ghosts are attracted to it.”

  “That’s something that happens?” Henry asked.

  Both Soraya and Ash looked at him with some pity in their eyes. Ash sighed and reached out to pat his shoulder. “This isn’t something that laymen have to deal with. How lucky for you.”

  Henry shot him another glare. “Aren’t you a layman, too?”

  “Not to magic.”

  “I swear-”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Soraya said. “It’s late, and you two have been up for two days. Get some rest.” She prepared to usher them into the inn, but Ash resisted.

  “Aunt, there’s one more thing,” Ash said, trying to stand his ground. “There is something strange about the painting.” He gave their aunt a brief summary of what they learned from Miss Beatrice, which was more detailed than what Asal and the others had found out.

  “Let’s see if we can look into it tomorrow,” Soraya said. “I didn’t want to bring you two, but it looks like it may be safer if I do. Especially Henry.”

  Henry furrowed his brows. “Why me?”

  Soraya and Ash both looked at him once more. “Divine fire.”

  Divine fire was a purifying force, and it also warded off and negated the energy around ghosts. Henry’s eyes crinkled up and he took a step back.

  “Don’t tell me you want me to burn down the manor.”

  “Of course not!” Soraya snapped. “Divine fire can keep us safe from it.”

  “What is it?” Henry asked.

  Ash sighed, as if frustrated that his brother didn’t understand. “It is whatever is haunting that house.”

  “A ghost?”

  “Or ghosts. Plural.” Soraya shrugged. “It could even be an amalgam of ghosts that has mutated into a single, powerful undead specter.”

  Henry’s eyes remained squinted. “None of this sounds remotely good.”

  “Oh, none of it is,” Soraya readily agreed. “In the best-case scenario, a restless spirit is laid to rest and can choose to enter the afterlife. Maybe they’re purified and they can be reincarnated to do good. Worst case is complete destruction of the soul, which can add to the danger in the surrounding area, as the energy in any sort of exorcism becomes unstable, resulting in anything from slight nausea to being unable to breathe and passing out. I knew one assistant who got diarrhea.”

  “Will any of those symptoms happen if we’re there?” Ash asked.

  “I doubt it. Both of you have strong magic resilience. Henry, your spirits will protect you, and Ash....” She looked at the silver-haired young man and scrunched her face. “You’re more likely to do damage than be damaged.”

  Ash beamed. “Thank you!”

  “It’s not a compliment,” Henry said in a droll voice. Ash snorted.

  “Maybe not to you.”

  “Go to bed.” Soraya gave them a stern look. “We have to get up early tomorrow Asal and the others have asked to come, and I’ve made arrangements to meet them here in the morning.”

  The two brothers gave her obedient nods, but then gently pushed each other as they went through the inn doors.

  The next morning, Henry rose well before dawn. Ash was still sprawled out, face down, on his bed. Henry walked over and shook him awake. Ash’s raspy, half-asleep voice asked if it was time.

  “I wouldn’t make you get up unless it was important.”

  “Yes, you would,” Ash grumbled bitterly. Despite his annoyance, he pushed himself up. The two brothers washed up and changed. They went out into the lobby to wait for their aunt, but didn’t see her.

  The innkeeper said that Soraya had already left and left a message for them, telling them to wait outside. They found Asal and the others already there. The trio of adventurers turned around as the two brothers stepped out.

  “Ash, Henry,” Nima and Farin greeted.

  “Did you two eat already?” Asal asked. She was holding up a canvas bag with food. “We have bread.”

  “Not yet, but thank you,” Henry replied with a respectful nod. “We’ll eat on the way there.”

  “Oh, she got a wagon!” Ash walked down the steps of the inn as he saw a nun sitting on the driver’s bench of a wagon. It was enough for all of them to sit on. Henry climbed on to the driver’s seat and offered to drive, but Soraya said it was fine.

  In the wagon itself, there were some benches built into the side for people to sit on, but several torches were piled on to the back, between Ash, Nima, and Asal and Farin. The sun had just begun to rise as it creaked through town, going from paved road to hard dirt on its way up the hill to the manor.

  The wagon was drawn by a local ox. Soraya had rented it from a nearby farm that wasn’t using it. “Don’t worry. We’ll expense the cost,” she told them.

  Henry chuckled. “Aunt, do you ever pay for anything when you do these?”

  “Why would I pay? They need my labor,” Soraya replied, both proud and defensive. “If the holy order doesn’t assign a task directly to me, I can take requests. After all, it’s not every day that an exorcist is needed in the region I manage.”

  “People can make direct requests through you?” Nima asked from his seat behind her.. “Does it have to go through the holy order?”

  “No. Sometimes, I’m recommended or a colleague reaches out to me if a task is particularly difficult,” Soraya said. “In that instance, they report it to the holy order just so I can get credit and some pay. Private clients pay more, but I’ll travel to them. Now that I think about it, this is the first request I accepted through the guild.”

  “She is listed as my assistant, though this time, I will be assisting,” Ash said with a grin. Soraya didn’t want to be registered in the Guild and be sought out for more work, so she was listed as a specialist to help Ash.

  “And you are Ash’s aunt? Are you also Lunapsar?’ Farin asked.

  “We’re not blood related,” Soraya replied. “Their mother and I are best friends.”

  “They attended West Wind Abbey’s Girls Academy,” Ash said. The name of the school did earn some impressed gasps. While it started off and continued to educate orphaned girls, it was also the most prestigious private girls' schools in the Iverias.

  Princess and noble daughters, and daughters of wealthy families, generally started when they were nine and had to pass a competitive test to gain admission. Orphaned girls studied as soon as they arrived and were adjusted enough to start. The education and resources available coupled with the familial support of the abbey produced many successful women.

  Nera’s mother was orphaned, though she was under the guardianship of the Council of Elders. She studied at the abbey’s academy until she was twenty-five, then taught Lunapsar and combat training there and at the Lunapsar school in the valley.

  To Henry’s knowledge, Nera’s father was still alive, but after her mother died at the abbey, Nera remained. Until that point, she’d only spent a few months there a year studying. The rest was spent on the border with her father and late mother.

  “We were roommates when Nera enrolled full time, up until she left on what was supposed to be a short ‘emotional support’ trip,” Soraya replied with some bitterness. She shook her head. “Honestly, I didn’t think the headmistress was going to approve our request to room together again after the last few summers of us being roommates caused two fires and complaints from aristocratic envoys.”

  “Momma’s beatings are fair and just,” Ash said, matter of fact.

  Soraya snorted. “When I was twelve, it was discovered that I had the physique suitable for an exorcist, so I had a slight deviation from the set course. Exorcists are extremely sensitive to the supernatural and it is imperative that we adapt to it early on, as it can cause severe mental and emotional strain on a person.”

  “You see and feel things that you can’t explain, so your perception of reality becomes skewed,” Henry said to try help clarify. “Perhaps you’ve heard of those people who are shouting at things that aren’t there or scream and panic at something you can’t see.”

  “They’re not all crazy,” Soraya told them. “Sometimes, they are just more sensitive and it overwhelms them.”

  “Then, it’s good you were identified early,” Nima said.

  “Yes, but the education is almost spartan. And you only get more sensitive with practice,” Soraya replied.

  “Sister Soraya,” Farin asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice. “Can you tell if someone is being haunted?”

  Soraya nodded. “Yes, but it’s actually rarer than you think. For the most part, when most people die, death will guide you to rest. Death isn’t some terrifying assassin. Death is only a guide from this world to another. However, sometimes dying happens so quickly that a soul cannot fathom it and starts to wander. Other times, a soul is so filled with a powerful emotion that it ties them to this world and they cannot let go.” She glanced over her shoulder at Ash. “Like the lighthouse keeper’s ghost on that bridge.”

  “What do you do when you confront a ghost who doesn’t want to pass on?” Nima asked.

  “Depends on the situation of the ghost,” Soraya answered truthfully. “Most ghosts that are chained to this world by emotion just need to be purified and released from their mortal torment, then shoved into the next world. It gets a bit more difficult when they’ve grounded themselves in an object.”

  “Like the manor house?” Henry asked.

  “You have to pull them out.” Soraya let out a low whistle. “We’d be lucky if there was just one ghost tied to that house.”

  “So, these ghosts didn’t die there. They were attracted by the energy and took root in the house?” Asal asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “And then they did something to those missing people?”

  “That we don’t know,” Soraya replied. The ox-drawn wagon creaked as it went around the final corner and revealed the dirt road that led to the estate. It was morning, but the sunlight had been enough to keep them somewhat warm coming up the hill. It was when they reached the top that the shadows of the mountain fell over them. The air around them was chilly.

  Ash began to rub his arms. “Are you cold?” Asal asked.

  Ash shook his head. “A bit. I’m just more sensitive to the energy here.”

  Henry had not moved, but he also felt chills. Bumps appeared on his forearm and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was as if he were being watched, but didn’t know by whom or from where. The air was heavy. His senses for any sort of magic energy wasn’t as strong as Ash or Soraya’s, but he could feel it weighing down on him uncomfortably.

  “The environment strengthens the presence,” Soraya told them as they approached the partially open gate. “It continuously attracts dead energy, so the spirits who are here become entangled and cannot rest.”

  The wagon rolled to a stop in front of the gate.

  “What do we do first?” Nima asked.

  Soraya jumped off the driver’s seat of the wagon. “First, we prepare. I brought nine torches. It should be enough to mark the pillars of the array. Henry, Ash, take the torches and place them around the perimeter of the grounds. Try to keep them as even distance as possible from the manor and each other.”

  “Got it!” Ash hopped off the back of the wagon while Henry rounded the side to get to the back.

  “We can help,” Asal said.

  “Then, place this one just outside the gates,” Soraya told them as she handed them one. She picked up two for herself. “I’ll get the furthest distances in the back. Try to stay as far away from the manor as possible. I don’t want you to get drawn in unnecessarily.”

  Asal and the others nodded while Ash and Henry went to take the torches that had been attached to wooden sticks with a point around to be pushed into the ground. It didn’t take long, though a few times, they had to remove one of the torches to readjust its location accordingly. Soraya walked around to check before she nodded in approval.

  “Will these withstand divine fire?” Henry asked.

  Soraya nodded. “Not forever, but for at least an hour with the holy magic I spent most of last night doing.”

  Henry’s brows shot up. “Have you slept?”

  She shook her head. “I can sleep when this is over. Now, light them.”

  Henry took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Simir!”

  “Shall we do it all at once or one at a time, clockwise?” Simir sounded curious, as if trying to plan his dramatic entrance.

  “Up to you.” Henry opened his eyes. Simir didn’t respond verbally, but after two counts, all nine of the torches shot up flames twice as high as they were before fizzling down to just a palm’s height of flames flickering over the top of the torch.

  Ash squinted. “Okay, I suppose he’s making it interesting....”

  Soraya chuckled and took out a slip of paper from the small, square box on her chatelaine. She walked to the nearest torch and held the paper over the flame, allowing it to ignite before she released it into the fire.

  Henry lifted his head. He couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it seemed as if the air had grown tense. Beside him, he heard Ash take in a low breath.

  “Oh...they don’t like that,” he said in a quiet voice.

  “Like what?” Nima asked, glancing over with uncertainty.

  “The fire along with the holy prayers has corralled them inside. Spirits inside cannot leave. Spirits outside cannot enter,” Soraya told them. “At least, not until the divine fire goes out.”

  “Should we be worried about going missing?” Nima asked.

  “No,” Soraya said. She looked towards Ash. “I don’t think the house and the dead energy or spirits are what is causing the missing persons.”

  Ash’s face lit up with interest. “So, you’re certain it’s the painting?”

  “If it seemed to have different appearances to Miss Beatrice, then it’s like it’s involved. The painting has something to do with it, but just in case, the painting is connected to the dead energy, I want to negate and purify the manor.”

  “Sister Soraya.” Asal stepped forward, her hands clenching at her sides. “Do you think our friends are alive?”

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  Soraya furrowed her brows. She hesitated answering. The others went quiet, as if saying anything would curse the missing people to the worst-case scenario.

  “Just hope for the best,” Soraya said after some time. “Ash, take the others back to the wagon and wait for me. I’ll purify the area. Henry, if you can make sure the divine fire on the torches won’t go out. It will get windy within the prayer circle.”

  Henry nodded. He gave his brother a small nod and Ash ushered the three adventurers outside the gate. “Do I need to do anything?”

  “Just make sure the divine fire doesn’t go out,” Soraya told him. “I will contain the spirits and force them into the next world for judgement and afterlife or rebirth. The energy will change, but you and Ash should be fine. Afterwards, make sure his friends are unaffected by the energy.”

  Henry nodded. Soraya looked back to make sure Ash and the adventurers were a safe distance away before turning her attention to the manor. Henry couldn’t see what she saw, but he could feel the shift in the environment.

  Soraya clasped her prayer beads and began chanting. He’d seen her do this before and the prayer itself didn’t take long. However, once it was done, what was caught in the vicinity that he couldn’t see originally, he would.

  His eyes dilated as he looked at the house and saw the dark cloud of vague human shapes crawling all over it. Languid shadows moved past the windows, making his skin curdle at the sight. As disrespectful as it was, he couldn’t help but remember the time he flipped over a log and found the bottom covered with insects crawling over and through it.

  This was much different from when he and Ash were trapped in the fog.

  Soraya threw out her prayer beads and it floated in front of them, glowing and rotating as it grew larger to reveal the white light from the center.

  “Spirits trapped in this maze of death, hear my voice! You are no longer a part of this mortal world! The energy that binds you is released! Move on to the next world!” The beads grew further and further apart, but none of the dark shadows Henry saw had approached. All of them remained clinging to the manor.

  Soraya then did a move similar to what Henry had seen Ash do dozens of times. It was actually where Ash had picked it up. Small paper slips no bigger than a playing card were thrown towards the manor. Rather than fall lifelessly to the ground, they took a life of their own, flying towards the moving shadows.

  As soon as a card made contact with an entity, the entity seemed to be sucked into the card. The glowing white card would continue to glow, but turn dark. At that, Soraya moved her hand back, withdrawing the card and then diverting it into the glowing center surrounded by prayer beads.

  Henry counted how many cards he’d seen fly out, but the cards that returned outnumbered what he’d seen. How Soraya was able to get to the spirits trapped inside was surprising, but an entire train of glowing gray cards flew into the glowing center.

  The manor had existed for years, gathering shadowed, dead energy, which in turn attracted and entangled spirits. Sixty-seven cards disappeared into the glowing center as the wind whipped around them, as if in the middle of a storm.

  Henry’s hair flew around his face, but he kept himself still, listening to Simir’s voice in his head confirming that the torches remained lit, even the few in the sides and back that he couldn’t see from where they stood.

  Part of him expected to hear the moaning wails of tortured souls, but aside from the roar of the wind in their ears and the low, rhythm prayers for soul purification and healing from Soraya, there was not much else.

  Once the wind died down a small stack of papers returned to Soraya’s outstretched hand. Their glowing faded, returning to a short pad of paper on her palm. The beads began to come together, the light in the center growing dimmer and dimmer, until the beads returned to their bracelet form around Soraya’s wrist.

  “Is that all of them?” Henry dared to ask as she opened her eyes.

  She nodded.

  “It is done.” Soraya lowered her arms and let out a heavy breath. “The good news is that there were no recent souls, so the missing people hadn’t died here.”

  While the air was still colder in the shadows of the mountain, there was a feeling of clarity. The eyes on him that Henry felt when they arrived were gone and the unnerved sensation had dissipated. The oppressive weight hanging over the area was gone.

  Outwardly, nothing changed. A few leaves and branches that were loose on the ground had moved around in the wind that came with the energy shift, but the manor remained. The torches were still lit.

  “The heaviness is gone,” Nima said behind them.

  “Are the spirits gone?” Farin asked with caution.

  Soraya nodded. “Yes, they’ve been taken into the next world. No new souls: the missing people aren’t there.” That allowed Asal and the others to release their breaths. “Of course, this area and the manor as a focal point makes it ripe for the situation to happen again.” She frowned and rubbed her chin. “I’d advise the owner to tear down and rebuild elsewhere that isn’t a magnet for dead energy.”

  “Isn’t it possible to bless the house or use holy symbols to keep it purified?” Asal asked.

  Soraya nodded. “Yes, but it’ll be a constant battle warding off the dead energy. Meaning, it’ll be costly to maintain. In all honesty, I wouldn’t put up with it. I’d just move. Without structure on this hill, dead energy will continue attract dead spirits, but they won’t be trapped, so they’ll likely wander off or be released whenever the sun hits.”

  “We should pass that on to the owner,” Henry said.

  “Since the presence is gone, what about the missing people?” Farin followed Ash through the gates and back into the paved walkway leading to the house. She turned her head from side to side, looking around to see if she could spot a difference.

  “I kind of expected them to suddenly appear once the exorcism was performed,” Nima said.

  “That only means that while the house had a presence, it was independent from the missing people,” Soraya told them. She looked towards Ash. “Sense anything?”

  Ash pursed his lips. “Nothing that really stands out...can we go inside?” He looked at her and she nodded. She reached into her pocket and produced a key. She handed it to Henry, who took and led the group up the walkway and to the four stone steps of the house.

  The double doors were still locked and Henry didn’t hesitate to unlock them.

  Part of him expected the doors to swing open on their own with a creak after all that had happened, but after unlocking them, he had to push them open himself. The disturbing sound of door creaking didn’t happen.

  They opened smoothly on their hinges. Ash checked them and nodded, satisfied. “Looks like they were recently lubricated during the restoration. They did a good job. No rust...I wonder if they took them apart to clean them.”

  “Oh my....” Asal gasped as they walked through the double doors. The floors were clean and the foyer was vaulted. Right in front of them was an elegant grand staircase that split at a landing and then coiled around the walls to get to the upper floors.

  “An excellent example of neo-classic Solian architecture,” Farin said with an impressed nod. “Solid hardwood floors, though the foyer entrance has a tile mosaic pattern.”

  “There’s a sky light,” Nima said. “And yet...it’s still cold.”

  “They need as much light to come in as possible,” Farin replied.

  Henry walked around the foyer, peering into the halls and open doors. As he rounded back to the front of the stairs, he saw Ash standing there, unmoving and looking up. He furrowed his brows and turned, following his brother’s gaze to the top of the stairs, towards the landing.

  Hanging on the wall was a large painting of the manor. The fabric that had been covering it was still pooled below it, on the floor. Henry narrowed his eyes.

  As Miss Beatrice had said, the doors and windows in the painting were backlit by light coming from within the house.

  Beside him, he caught a movement. Without taking his eyes off the painting, Ash walked up the stairs.

  ﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

  “Ash, wait!”

  He could hear his brother telling him to stop, but, in his usual fashion when he grew interested in something, he ignored Henry. Ash climbed the stairs, his eyes narrowing as he climbed the wide, carpeted steps and stopped at the landing, just below the painting that was wider than he was tall.

  The oil painting was as Miss Beatrice had described when she saw it last: a newly built manor shrouded in the shadows of the nearby mountains. Its doors were thrown open and none of its windows had curtains. What should’ve been a hazy yellow light pouring from within the house silhouetted small shadowed figures of people.

  Thirty-one figures were in place, but Ash couldn’t feel the cold energy emanating from it as he had the rest of the estate.

  In fact, it was the only area that had a neutral energy.

  “Maybe that’s why they were drawn to it?” he muttered to himself as he looked the painting up and down.

  “Ash, step back from the painting! Let Aunt Soraya-”

  “It isn’t dead energy!” Ash shouted over his shoulder, though he didn’t take his eyes off the painting. As he looked over the frame, he felt his heart skip a beat. From afar, the frame was a simple metal frame. Very simple. Too simple for the grand estate manor it was in. It was as if it were framed by flat planks of silver gilded wood. He narrowed his eyes. “This is silver.”

  He reached out to touch it and felt a hand grab his shoulder to pull him back.

  “Do you have no sense of self-preservation?” Henry almost barked in his ear. Ash shrugged him off.

  “This isn’t a pattern,” he said as he ran his hand down the silver gilding of the frame. He could barely feel the delicate lines engraved, likely by hand, into it, but he could see it. “This is Altomawi. Brother,” Ash turned to look at him with excited eyes. “This is from the Cloud Continent!”

  Henry sighed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t see why that’s so surprising. Plenty of people have imports from the Cloud Continent. We have things from the Cloud Continent. Doesn’t Hana also have that music box from the Cloud Continent?”

  “No! You don’t understand. Altomawi is a coding script. It’s equivalent to our magic text!” Ash stepped back, looking at the massive frame in awe. “This isn’t a painting, it’s a tool.”

  “All right, but products from the Cloud Continent don’t work here as the energy source used to power them is negated on the Iverias and the Dragon Continent,” Henry said. It was a source of irritation for both places, as technology could not be transferred over.

  Ash squinted and moved to the side. “Help me take it down.”

  “What?”

  “Asal! Nima! Can you help me take down this painting?” Ash shouted towards the foyer below, down the stairs. The two exchanged looked, but nodded and walked up the stairs. “Brother, go to the other side and help me lift it.”

  Despite his apparent reservation about doing so, Henry did at he was told. It was Ash who had experience in this, after all. Nima joined him on one side while Asal went to stand beside Ash. Together, they grasped the sides of the painting to jostle it off of its mount on the wall. It was hanging at about chest height.

  The weight bared down on them, but Ash activated a slip to lighten the load. “Where do we put it?” Nima asked.

  “Help me rest it against the wall.” Ash took a step forward, using the other three to help control the movement of the large painting. Carefully, they let it rest against the wall it had been hanging on before it slid down to rest on the carpet at an angle wide enough for a person to walk through behind it.

  “Now what?” Henry asked.

  “Give me a moment.....” Ash crouched down, looking over the faint script in the plain frame. The silver itself hadn’t tarnished, still keeping that brilliant metallic shine despite its age. He frowned. The frame had been out and uncared for so long; it would’ve begun to tarnish in a few years without care. “Wait...they’d cleaned it....”

  The reason the Cloud Continent used silver and other metals for its technology was because it was able to spread usable energy when connected to an energy source. When silver was tarnished, it could no longer do so. However, it was cleaned because of the restoration….

  Ash’s eyes dilated. His heart began pounding in his chest. Without a word, he took out another slip and activated it. It began glowing and he almost ran behind the back of the painting. He lifted the light, looking around the back. The canvas was backed with wood and on the wood was a series of magic text meant to collect energy into crystal plates embedded into the back of the wooden frame.

  For a moment, Ash couldn’t breathe in his excitement.

  “Ash?” Henry peeked around the back from the other side of the frame. “Are you all right-”

  “It’s an energy source,” Ash said. He let out an awkward laugh as his eyes crinkled up. “It’s an energy source! I get it! I get it!”

  “Get what?” Nima asked, sounding as excited as Ash was.

  “The frame is a Cloud Continent product, but it needs an energy source to function. The energy source used in the Cloud Continent cannot be used in the Iverias, so an artificial one was created to mimic the energy source! It’s not nearly as powerful, but it’s doing its job! It just needs to collect more energy.”

  “What kind of energy?” Henry asked.

  Ash looked at him. “Light energy.”

  Nima jerked his head back. “Then, this is the last place it could be used.”

  “That’s why it’s taken so long to be activated,” Ash said, stepping back to the front. “The array needed time to gather the energy, which is why no one went missing during the original owner’s time. Then it went dormant because it tarnished, but then the workers came and polished it!”

  “And now?” Soraya asked, going up the stairs to join them.

  “Now, it gathered enough energy, and the workers did something to help activate it,” Ash said. He motioned to the frame. “They cleaned the tarnish off the silver, allowing the energy to flow, making it work!”

  They nodded, but Asal looked concerned. “What does it do when it ‘works’?”

  Ash laughed and ran down the stairs. He ran through the foyer and almost skidded out the door. He looked around the doorframe and moved his hands along. “Silver wire,” he said. He looked at the group and beamed. He lifted his hand to reveal another slip, only this time, he activated different characters. The slip still began to glow, but not like the earlier light slip.

  Henry’s face fell. “Ash, no-”

  “I’ll be back!” Ash retracted his arm and then threw it forward, sending the mulberry slip flying toward the painting. Instead of embedding itself into the frame with a dull thunk, it seemed to dissolve as soon as it touched the canvas.

  The group turned back to Ash just as he ran out the door. He stood a few steps outside, on the top step, his eyes looking over the door frame. He took a deep breath and then ran forward.

  He heard everyone’s yelling and gasps as he crossed his arms over his head and jumped through the threshold.

  He felt a rush of warmth before his feet landed on a wooden surface. He opened his eyes and lowered his arms.

  “No, what are you doing?!” Someone’s voice gasped. The language was Dareisolian and tinged with a northeastern accent.

  Ash could understand it, but since he didn’t use it often, his conversational Dareisolian was a bit lacking. He looked around the foyer, ignoring the people who were standing with him. He let out a slight laugh as wondrous mercurial eyes looked over the same foyer he had jumped into moments earlier, only this time, anything that wasn’t part of the building itself, including the figures of his brother, aunt, and friends, were coated with a hazy light.

  It was as if they were the spirits that were not supposed to be there.

  “Young man!” Someone rushed up to him, grasping his arm and trying to make his focus. “Why did you do that? Why did you jump in?” An older man with graying dark hair and wrinkles in the corners of his eyes looked at him with sadness and confusion.

  “I was testing something,” Ash replied in his awkward Dareisolian.

  Hearing it, the old man switched to Iverian Common. “What were you testing?”

  “If I could get inside the painting,” Ash said.

  “You can get inside,” another man, this time someone younger who looked as if he were one of the construction workers sent, told him. He frowned and shook his head. “But you can’t get out.”

  Ash raised a brow. He looked back towards the doorway where he’d come from. He walked forward and raised his hand. As soon as he reached the threshold, an invisible wall kept him from leaving. This wasn’t beyond his expectations.

  The door was still open and as he stood there, the figure of Henry rushed out. Ash could see him opening his mouth and yelling something, but he couldn’t hear what his brother was yelling.

  “That’s my brother,” Ash said with a bit of pride. “He always worries about me.” He could almost hear Henry’s irritated voice chiding him with ‘with good reason’. Ash chuckled.

  “Why did you come?” Several more men, all dressed for work to help clean and repair the manor stepped out from the halls, through adjacent doors, and two even came down the stairs. “Now you’re trapped.”

  Ash looked around at the faces. There were about a dozen people and he frowned. “Where are the others?”

  “Some of them are sleeping, if they can.”

  “Son,” an older man stepped forward. “How long has it been outside?”

  Ash tilted his head to the side. “You don’t know?”

  “We lost track of time,” the first man who came to him replied with heartbreak in his eyes.

  Ash looked back at the figure of Henry grabbing the doorframe and looking around, with a terrified expression. “Okay, I better get out before he panics and burns this place to the ground with us in it.”

  “What?” Someone choked out as they paled.

  “There is no way out!” A loud voice boomed from the top of the stairs. Ash looked up and saw two men in purple robes and peaked hats.

  He instinctively sneered at the sight of them. “Magic Tower mages, right?”

  “If you think you can get out, think again. We’ve tried everything to get out!” The taller of the mages stormed down the stairs.

  “Do you know how you got in?” Ash asked.

  The tall mage’s words were choked in his mouth before he could get them out. “What is there to know? Some energy drew us in the moment I walked through that door!”

  Ash rolled his eyes. “Then, you’re saying you don’t know how you got in exactly?”

  “Who had time to-”

  “Ash?” Another voice cut him off. From one of the side halls a tall, slender man with long dark hair in a low ponytail tail came out. He took in a sharp breath. “Jasper! Jasper, it’s Ash!”

  Ash?” A moment later, a similar looking man, only with shoulder length dark hair who was a bit older came out. His eyes went wide with excitement, but quickly turned to worry. “Ash, what are you doing here? It’s dangerous!”

  “Cyrus! Jasper!” As if ignorant to everything else going on around him, Ash happily walked over to greet them as if he’d just caught sight of them across the street and wanted to chat. “I haven’t seen you two in a while! Jasper...got some graying going on there.”

  He cracked a joke and Jasper flushed. “Now isn’t the time, kid! What are you doing here?”

  “Jasper....” Cyrus’s voice was breathless as he pointed at the stairs and the three figures that were coming down.

  Jasper paled at once. “What are they doing here?”

  “They’re here to find you, of course,” Ash laughed. “Why else would they be here?”

  “Did they come with you?” Jasper asked. He turned to Ash with apology. “Ash, I’m sorry-”

  “Why are you apologizing?” Ash said, shaking his head helplessly. “We met them on the way here. I’m here because of a Guild request. I happened to take it up and we ran into them in the town below. They insisted on coming because they were worried.”

  “No....” The two men became pained at the sight of their party looking around. They reached out to touch them, but their hands just went through the ghostly figures of Asal, Nima, and Farin. “What if they come inside?”

  “It’s not sunny yet,” Ash said. “And I only used enough light energy to open the portal for a minute.”

  “Open the portal?” Cyrus asked.

  “I’ll explain later,” Ash said. “First, let me step out and get the portal charged-”

  A mocking laugh reached his ears and Ash looked towards the two men in purple robes. “Step out?” the shorter one asked with a sneer. “You think you can just walk out of here?”

  Ash gave him a cold smile. “Oh? Like it’s hard?” Icy glares were given to him. Before they could chastise his arrogance, Ash lifted a small slip of mulberry paper. “Call everyone down to the foyer.” He looked towards Cyrus and Jasper. “When you see me standing outside those doors,” he said, pointing to where Soraya, Asal, and Nima were pulling Henry back down the front steps of the house to prevent him from jumping back inside. “When I am waving at you to come out, then come out.”

  Both men were taken aback. Cyrus squinted. “Ash, how-”

  “You’re doubtful. I understand,” Ash said, holding up one hand. “But, like you trusted me to talk down the chimera pack leader when I was fourteen, trust me again.” His voice was calm, but confident.

  The two older men looked at each other and then nodded. They looked back at Ash. Jasper patted his shoulder as he passed. “I’ll gather everyone here.”

  Ash gave him an appreciative nod in return. He looked around and walked towards the threshold once more. He lifted his hand with the slip between his fingers and smiled at the men standing around.

  “Gentlemen,” he said with a slight nod of his head. “I’ll see you in a bit.” He threw the card across the foyer and up the stairs, towards the painting resting against the wall. Everyone’s gazes seemed to follow the flying, glowing slip. As soon as it hit the canvas, it dissolved into it like sugar in water.

  Ash took a step back and felt the warmth against his body before immediately being shocked by the cold air of the shadowed manor.

  “Ash!” Gone were the men in the foyer. There was only an empty space within. A pair of arms grabbed on to him and pulled him back. “You little shit!”

  “Brother!” Ash was almost crushed by Henry’s embrace. Then, his brother expressed how worried he was.

  “I’m going to kill you!”

  “I thought that’s what you were avoiding!” Ash laughed and Henry pushed him back and then smacked the back of his head. “Ow! I’m telling Momma!”

  “Go ahead and tell her, and she’ll beat you on the training grounds!” Henry shouted at him and Ash winced. His mother would.

  “Ash, how’d you get out?” Soraya asked as she turned him around and looked him up and down, checking for any injury.

  “Just needed to activate the portal,” Ash told her. He looked past her shoulder. “Cyrus and Jasper are all right. It seems that the plane they’re in freezes them in the health they were in when they entered.”

  “Can you get them out, Ash?” Asal asked in a nervous voice.

  Ash’s lips curled up into a grin. “Is the sky blue?” He motioned for them to move away. “I need to charge the portal. When they come out, get them as far away from the house as possible, as I don’t know how they’ll be affected by the unstable energy around the manor.” Too long in any sort of magic energy weakened people without magic, making them not only weaker than normal, but more susceptible to unstable energies, such as the one around the manor after the exorcism. In addition, the plane inside the painting had different energy pressure.

  Coming out after a prolonged period would cause some dizziness at best.

  The group nodded as Ash told them to prepare and then went back inside. He charged several slips and fed them into the painting. One on each corner and then three in the center. He held out his hand and felt the intense energy coursing through the painting.

  Nodding to himself, he rushed down the steps, outside the doors, and turned around. He smiled and began waving his hands, beckoning those trapped within forward.

  An old man escorted by Cyrus was the first to come out. As soon as they did, the old man was hit by the unstable energy and went down to his knees.

  Cyrus tried to hold him up, but found himself swaying, also unsteady.

  Ash ran to help them and bring them out. One by one, those who were trapped inside the painting came out, but were almost falling down the stairs at the unstable magic energy.

  For Ash and the others, it was a constant race up and down the front steps to grab a worker, help them down and across to the lawn, towards the gate so they could lay down and rest.

  Even the two mages were unsteady as they came out. The arrogant looks on their faces disappeared as they nearly tripped over themselves.

  Jasper was the last to come out after he confirmed that everyone else had been released. “Everyone’s out, Ash,” he said after managing to steady himself.

  Ash helped him down the steps and to the others. “Thanks, Jasper.”

  “Thank you.”

  Once Ash helped Jasper to sit on the ground, he began to help his brother and Soraya check on the welfare of the workers. He heard a surprised gasp behind him.

  “Is that divine fire?” Cyrus looked around and saw the torches circling the estate, just outside the stone gate and the cleared lawns. He squinted and gently brushed Farin’s hands away to get closer to the nearest torch. His face held a look of disbelief as he held out his hands, almost ready to touch the fire. He pulled back, as if singed by an unseen flame and let out a low hiss. He whirled around with disbelief. “How far did you have to go for this?”

  “What do you mean how far?” Asal asked with a frown. She motioned towards Henry, who was kneeling beside one of the men who’d escaped from the painting, checking for any injuries. “Ash’s brother provided it.”

  At this, Cyrus’ dark brows shot up. His head whipped to Henry as his mouth dropped. “He...he produced divine fire?”

  “Why are you so surprised?” Nima asked, his brows knit and looking a bit displeased that Cyrus didn’t seem to have any faith in Henry, who’d been of great help. “You’ve seen summoners use fire spirits.”

  Cyrus let out a choked breath and looked at them, stunned. “Fire spirits?” He took a stumbling step forward and pointed at Henry with a trembling arm. “You think he has a fire spirit?”

  “Cyrus, are you all right?” Farin asked with a frown. “Perhaps you should sit down-”

  “Divine fire doesn’t come from fire spirits,” Cyrus stressed. “Only fire gods-”

  “Cyrus.” A low, firm voice cut him off, but drew their attention. Ash stood to the side, his eyes cold as he pursed his lips and brought his finger over them. After a brief pause, he gave Cyrus a small nod.

  Cyrus’ eyes darted from Ash to Henry, who had moved on to check another servant, and then back at Ash. With a shaking nod, he mirrored the gesture.

  Ash’s face bloomed with a smile, then turned his attention to a young man who still appeared confused on the ground.

  “Cyrus?” Asal called his name. “What were you saying?”

  Ash caught Cyrus swallowing hard from the corner of his eye. “Just that from the strength of his fire, Ash’s brother must be a talented summoner.”