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Alchemical Aether raced down the street. Sylvia had spotted a group of small monsters and had seemed quite confident she could handle them on her own, so she’d gone ahead. Tessa trusted Sylvia’s abilities, but when she didn’t return, she decided to head after her.
She found Sylvia huddled in a corner, mumbling to herself. Tessa moved slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements. “Sylvia?”
Sylvia looked up at her, but something was off. She immediately scrambled away from Tessa’s outreached hand. “Who are you? Who’s Sylvia?”
Tessa began to speak, but her danger sense kicked in and she immediately turned around to find…
…herself alone. Everyone had long abandoned her. Her tired fingers slipped on the pages of an album. The pictures inside were faded beyond recognition. Around her were murmurs, names she couldn’t recognize. She saw something, a symbol that looked like two triangles overlapping at their points, and it meant nothing. She held a strand of pink hair in her hand as it turned brown…
Suddenly she felt very warm as a blast of fire whizzed past her head. “Tess, you okay?”
Tess? Why did that sound so familiar…She felt like she should nod her head.
“We found Sylvia, she’s okay. You want me to cook these guys?”
Sylvia? Who? She looked into the eyes of the red-haired girl talking to her. Nothing. The girl put her hands on her shoulders. “Tessa?”
She shook her head and the fog cleared. Sally looked her in the eyes and Tessa nodded. “Sorry, be careful, they have some sort of mental attack.”
Sally smiled devilishly at a charred black mass on the ground. “They burn pretty good, though.”
Tessa looked down as a brown strand of hair in her hand turned to black dust as the monster faded away.