51: Mission Objectives
Two shaman were racing towards Phantasia, their auras twisting the currents of mana, but they passed her without incident. As far as they were concerned she wasn’t even there. Maybe they’d see a shimmer out of the corner of their eye, or feel a slight warmth in the atmosphere, but unless the shaman extended their spiritual senses above their own plane – as they were certainly capable of – they would be oblivious to her presence. For the price of walking a dangerous, volatile plane where the corruption of human emotions was more manifest than ever, Phantasia could walk among them as if she were a ghost.
It also allowed her to better see the currents of the giant magic circle, flowing along the labyrinthine corridors of the castle as if by intended design, the four towers along the perimeter collecting and focusing the elemental energy needed for the manifestation. Phantasia found herself drawn to one by a sense of familiarity in the auras dancing at its base. Approaching the tower cautiously from the side, rather than its entrance, she skipped up the wall and slipped through to the other side, hiding in a convenient nook until her suspicions had been confirmed.
The tower consisted of a single, crimson-hued chamber, its walls a complex weaving of carved geometry and sculptured patterns that twisted around its circumference from a raised altar at its far end. A familiar red crystal sat enshrined at the conflux, burning the streams of mana with its scolding anger – the very same crystal Yokai Kitsune created from the Godhand-stalking leansídhe. But that wasn’t the source of familiarity Phantasia had sensed from across the castle: it was Ceres and Korrigan, who stood guard either side of the arched entrance, their forest-green cloaks as clear as day. They too were on the fringe plane.
They weren’t the only unexpected presence, though. On the physical plane, Ms Anderson was standing before the crystal, working human magics to affect and alter its flow. Whether they were here by command of Mr Payne and SEELIE, or Ms Chiltern and Princess Titania, it didn’t matter – but whether Faye was aware of their involvement was another question. Knowing her handmaiden it was likely she did and, had Phantasia known from the start, she might not have followed her instincts here. Feeling manipulated once again, she swore to surprise Faye by the end of the day, and emerged from her hiding place.
Korrigan was the first to notice her descent. “Ooh! Ooh! It’s Princess Phantasia!” she cooed, like an excitable child. Ceres looked up and smirked as Phantasia skipped down the wall of the chamber.
“Was wonderin’ when you’d show up,” she said, “Though you might’ve brought that newspaper lot with ya or sumthin’,”
Phantasia looked out the archway and smiled, wondering how her friends were getting on. “They’re on their way,” she said, enjoying the irritated look on Ceres’s face. She’d given Phoenie and the others a lecture the last time they’d crossed paths outside of the Academy, when investigating a derelict mansion.
“Surely ya oughta’ve realise what’s going down ‘ere by now? It ain’t the sorta place they should be pokin’ around,”
Phantasia felt a sense of growing pride for her friends, though. A feeling that their actions were going some way to proving Princess Titania and her coven wrong. “That’s what you think,” she said, hoping her next statement wasn’t a lie, “They had to take down a golem just to get here. You know, like you had to?”
