I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

She had been woken up in the middle of her cat nap, a quick look at the watch said that she had barely been sleep for two hours. The watch she had stolen a week ago and now rested on her wrist told her it was barely nine in the morning, too early for them to move. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she felt the girl at her side sob in her sleep.

They hadn’t been able to get a good night's rest since half a year ago. Focusing inwardly trying to get a vibe for what was happening gave her the answer about why she had been roused from her sleep.

 

“G̷̨̻͈̝̹̫̼͇̦̱͗͐̇̒̒̑̓͗̚Í̶̥̰͓̼͕̤͙̞̬̣͐͗̈́̾̌̈̀̕̕͘͠V̷͇̺̙͎̼̬͆̑̑̀́̆̌͂͊͜Ę̴͈̗͉͕͕̟̺̞̍̑ ̶̰̬̮̟͉̪̺̘̞̖͋̈́̑̿͒̑̒̊̾̌̓͒̂̌̄̕͝H̵̭͚͉͓͍̖͋́̈́̒̚E̶̩͗́̇̿͝Ŗ̷̡̻̥͇̠̭͎̤̥̰͓͔̭͊̏͌̈́̀̽̌̎͂͐͆̀̂̈́͘͠ ̸̡̢̠̙͕̘͉͖̘̦̻̰̺͕̖̜̍̍̿͘ͅB̷̬͔͗A̷͙̪̯̽̀̀̿́̆C̷̨̢̰̙͎̆̾̌̕͜K̸̞̣̹̝̬̦̮͓͉̭̖͑̈́̽̆̀̊̌͂͑̐̿̎͊͆͒̔̚”

 

The voice was coming closer, if she was interpreting the pulses within the mana stream, they had around half an hour if all was going well.

“Wake up…we need to move.” She said to the other girl, the blonde’s eye fluttered open, and she could see the other girl wasn’t dealing well either with the missing sleep. If it was only the two of them it would have been even worse. At least they had their helper to keep guard, even if they couldn’t sleep as much as she wanted.

“Is he coming again?” Asked the other girl in a tired tone, “Can’t he leave us alone? We don’t even know him!”

The blonde threw the pseudo covering she had been using, really, it was some papers they had found in an alleyway. At least the clothes seemed to clean themselves on their own, if they had needed to get new clothes….

“I know, but there is nothing we can do. If we try to get help…” She didn’t like their odds.

“You still think they will sell us to him?” The blonde girl asked back, she was the hopeful of the two.

“Yes, he is powerful. And you remember what happened the last time we tried to get help?” It had happened after one of the first times they found the Shadow Man.

“Ugh…don’t remember me that, at least my arm is back to normal…That week sucked.” The blonde girl said turning to look at her right arm.

It had been an eye-opening experience, they had tried to reason with the Shadow Man, and what did they get from it?

The blonde girl, her sister, had ended with one of her arms cut clean by the Shadow Man. All because she had wanted to try and reason with him, and what did she get from the effort? He tried to cleave her in two, if her sister hadn’t reacted with that speed she would be dead…

Or well, “Hey! Look at me, I’m fine okay. We learned plenty from that. At least we found we don’t need to eat! Now we don’t need to worry about that!” The blonde girl said trying to cheer her up, “Besides, thanks to that we found that Reginald can help us keep a lookout!”

Yeah, they found out plenty from that experience, first…

They weren’t human, not normal humans anyway. If there was even a normal Human, as far as she could tell they seemed to be something closer to a Magical Girl, as the Healers had asked her sister to [Turn off her shift]. And dismissed their worry, she may have gotten…a little heated up and ended up getting them both thrown off when her temper got the better of her, and she started using her skills to threaten the healers.

Second, they found out that both of them had special powers. Her sister was a Magical Girl, she could summon some kind of elemental type spells and could somewhat use them to fight. They were weak and feeble most of the time, but they had helped them deal with the need for water and warmth. She on the other hand…

“Besides, you looked so cool summoning those shadow things! Really, the Shadow Man could learn from you!” Her sister really liked her powers. But the look in the healers that day taught her plenty.

She had powers, yes, but her powers were the kind that no one wanted and made the looks she was getting more obvious. They eyed her warily as soon as they saw her black hair…And when they got a closer look at her eyes? They seemed to recoil with disgust. Her red eyes seemed to symbolize something. She hadn’t seen anyone else with red eyes like hers, she hoped that it was because it was something rare. And not because her kind was hunted.

So far no one had tried anything, but that was probably something to do with Reginald.

“Rwaaaar!!!” The little thing was getting restless, the shadow man must be close.

“Kay˜ I’m getting ready Reg, wait a second.” Her sister said to the small reptile, they had been mostly ignoring the thing when they woke up.

That had been a very stressful awakening six months ago. They woke up in a dark basement with the Shadow Man trying to use his powers to tie them down…No, to tie her down. He had ignored her sister, it had been the fast thinking of the blonde girl that had saved them that day. As soon as she noticed the Shadow Man ignore her she had cast a teleportation spell that let them run away.

“We need to do something about names too, it is getting awkward using fake ones every time.” Her sister said to her as she finished getting all their belongings into the small backpack they shared.

It was mostly stuff they managed to steal when the Shadow Man got too close, some thermos, a pillow they only brought up when they could guarantee no one would steal it from them. And some rations they saved for special occasions.

“Nothing we can do about that Sis. If you manage to remember our names then we can-” She had started saying when the feeling became stronger. “We need to move, he noticed our presence.”

It was both a blessing and a curse really, the fact that she could feel the Shadow Man meant that they could run away, but it was also the reason she knew that they couldn’t run away from him.

“I still think you have a Lizbeth face, if not a Beatrice face more than I do” Her sister was still insisting on finding her name, she wasn’t sure if it was a way to distract herself from their situation or not.

“And neither stick with me, besides you are more noble looking with the golden hair and everything. If anything I’m more of a Mary material, maybe Margareth?” She bantered back, she really envied her sister’s blonde hair and blue eyes.

If she had also blonde hair maybe it would be easier to move around in more rich areas, as it was if they wanted to go to one of those areas they would be kicked out, her sister could move in them of course. But a look at her black hair was all it took for them to get kicked out. Germania (The country they had been stuck in) didn’t like her ilk it seemed.

“Maybe I can do something with my Magic? I haven’t been able to get a hang on how to get the spells work. It looks like all the magic I can use was pre-selected already. Whoever picked them up was dumb. It looks as if whoever it was didn’t think it through. All low-power spells, where is the Death beam? The Healing spells? Only elemental and attack spells… “And there it was, her sister loved to complain about that, she felt bad for her, and couldn’t help her either. Unlike her sister, she didn’t have problems with her powers. If anything, her problem was that they were too free-willed, she could do anything she could imagine with her shadows.

Her problem was limited by the amount of energy she could channel. Reginald seemed to be able to help her in some limited ways.

“Rwaaaar!” The small little reptile was weird, when they arrived he was bigger, but nowadays he was almost as big as a lizard. At least he had stopped shrinking.

“Okay okay, we are leaving. Say goodbye to our house Reginald.” It was closer to an abandoned hotel room. But it had been home for a month or so.

“Bye home!” Her sister said cheerfully to the empty room.

“Bye home.” So she said it too, she hated this life. She hated the fact that they had no memories, she hated the fact that her sister was stuck in this too.

They both knew that the shadow man only wanted her, but her sister was too stubborn to leave her alone and run away, and for some reason, if she tried to run away, her sister had a way to always find her. The blonde girl had some way to find her, even if she didn’t want to share it.

“RAWR!” Reginald also growled and so they moved. Leaving this place was easy enough, just a trip to the emergency stairway and they got into the ground level.

At the distance, she could see the inky-like tide of shadows moving in their general direction, and the people running away from it trying to get ahead of everyone.

“Please cooperate with the rescue efforts, we are trying to contain the [Villain]-” And in the sky there they were. The shining and bright beacons of hope. “We have brought specialists to deal with this, please be reassured-”

The woman speaking was dressed in a light blue mini skirt with a police officer as a top, she was wearing high white stocks and was floating in the air while her hair flowed under her blue beret cap. A Magical Girl.

At her side was another one that was such a great dichotomy that she found it amusing. “Look big sis, you could be one of them, just get the Gothic Lolita look and grumble a little and done!” Her sister teased her as they started moving away from the shadow tide.

The other Magical Girl was smaller than the first, she was dressed in dark colors and as her sister stated, she was dressed in a gothic Lolita outfit. The only thing out of place was her eyes, unlike her outfit would indicate, they shone in blue light.

Such a strange phenomenon. Something told her that the girl’s eye should be red, was she projecting herself in her? Why?

“Oh…they looked our way.” Her sister said while waving at the two girls flying in the air.

And indeed they seemed to be speaking among themselves while looking their way, something wasn’t right.

“Let’s move, we don’t want to get attention from their type.” She didn’t like how the gothic Lolita magical girl was pointing at them while speaking with the blue magical girl. Something about her mannerisms didn’t sit well with her.

So she pulled at her sister and moved with the flow of people, this was one of the few perks of her red eyes, as soon as people turned to berate her for forcing her way, they noticed her red eyes and gave room, so she was able to get her sister and Reginald away from danger fast.

She could feel the presence of the magical girl looking at her, something in her told her that she was being observed. So while moving through the mass of people she guided her sister toward one of the empty buildings near the evacuation site.

“We should be fine here for a few minutes, we need to plan our next stop.” The blonde girl was also getting tired, her sister wasn’t the most athletic person.

“I…can…. still…. go….” Her sister said as she lay on the floor gasping for air.

“Also, those Magical Girls may have recognized us. Were they in the clinic at that time? I don’t think so…then when did they see us?” That was also a problem if they were in the clinic…If they got a warrant for her for that…Well, if they sent her to prison she could use them as a wall against the Shadow Man, but she knew her sister. The girl was stubborn like no one else.

If she thought that the shadow man was coming she may try to fight him again….

“Of course we recognize you, Alice. So you were a Germanian Citizen?” The presence materialized in the door and spoke, it was the Gothic Lolita.

“Tch…Quick the-” She turned to grab her sister and make a run for the window. It would hurt like nothing else, but she could probably survive the landing.

“Lunar Shade I told you to stop spooking other former tainted, look. We-” The Blue Magical Girl was already sitting on the only window that pointed towards the street, the others pointed to other buildings or to alleyways. All the places that made it difficult to mix with other people.

All places that wouldn’t change their situation.

But that wasn’t her main problem, the main problem she was dealing with a sudden headache that struck her as soon as the gothic girl spoke.

“So the blonde girl was your sister? Then why did you stalk her in Camelot?” The voice of the girl was even, but her blue eyes seemed to search for an answer, “And why are your eyes still red Alice? Do you still have the [Taint]?”

 

Alice? Alice? ALICE? Ȁ̷̠͔̗͍͗͐̽̽͌͌̐͛̓͗L̸̡̹̝̙̗̞͖̉̿̈́̾̇̀͑̔̂I̷̢̡̩̼̖̝̗̮͆̈́̅͐̾̊̀̓̈́̕͝Ç̸̡̧̠̤̤̪̜̣̬̲̬͊́̒̓͊͑̈́̀͘͠E̷̝̗͎̚̚̕ ?

 

Her sight was turning red, the world seemed to be trembling with each mention of that name, who was Alice? What was Alice? Where was Alice? Taint? No…[Taint]? Was she [Tainted]? Was that why the Shadow Man was after her?

“Sis? SIS?!?” Someone was speaking to her? To who? “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!?!?”

She felt the wave of energy from the blonde girl as her eyes seemed to shine in yellow light, magic circles manifesting around her, it was always so pretty to see her doing magic. It was almost as if she was an opera master, and the magic was her instruments.

“Calm down [Elemental Weaver],” Then she felt her sister stumble as she grabbed her head and blood started coming from her nose. Was that how she looked? No. She wasn’t bleeding from her nose.

But what kind of name was Elemental Weaver? That sounded more like a-

“Why are you dressed in civilian clothes while having your [Shift] up? If I hadn’t been searching for other Magical Girls I wouldn’t have noticed you. If you want to use your [Shift] to move in public you need to be wary of people matching your appearance with your Magical Girl persona.” The blue woman spoke while turning to her, “And you. You are her sister? I get faint feelings of a [Shift] from you too. But [Lunar Shade] said that you were a powered. Or I guess that you were one, did your sister teach you the [Shift] skill?”

What? No, there was something important that they were all missing.

“Either way, ditch the civilian clothes and put on your dress, we need all the help we can get. [Elemental Weaver] was in area Zero of the [Advent] so she should be in what, third year? She should have enough power to help us fight [The Shadow Tide].” The blue magical girl said, her sister was still recoiling from whatever they had done to them.

“Heheheheh.” And for some reason, she started laughing…was something funny? “I knew you had a pretty name big sis. [Alice] has the right ring doesn’t?”

“What kind of name is Elemental Weaver then?” She said back to her sister who seemed to be getting better already, she could still see her legs trembling, “So should I call you Ele-something? Ellen? Eleanore? Elzbeth?”

“I think that Elzbeth is good enough.” Answered her sister, the name didn’t seem to quite match, but it was close enough. And they had some important things to deal with at the moment. “So…Do we…?”

 

“G̵̹̦̳̲̠̗̻͔̺̲̦͌͌̚͜͝I̵̺͖̳̠͕͍̪̘̠̭͋̀̋͋Ṿ̵̧̧̼̙̩͙̹̙̣̑͌̈́́̀̕͜Ę̶̨̢̥̹͈͙̰̠̙̻͉̍̔̄̄̆͋̀́̎̾̕͜͝ ̵̨̧̛̤̗͕̞̖̲̪̩̫̬͇̪̥͕͇͂̑̀́̒̏͒̈̊̉̓̋͝H̴̢̻͖̰̯͓̩͕̜̩̙̗̖̐̊́͊́͋̆͂̂̈̈́̀͜͝͠͝E̶͈̼͔̘͛͐́̀̍̌͜Ŗ̴̧̧̧̦̖̩̱͕̗͍̰̭̫̋̂̂̈́̊̋͗̽̊̕̕͝ͅ ̵͙̗̠͚̬̩̙̙̟̑̾͆́͂̐͊̋͠B̸̢̛̠̳͕͎̝͚͕̲͊͋͗́̒̈́̍̃̈̅̒͝A̵̫̯̖̳̺̯͛̽̑C̴͖̲̲̤͈̯̠͙͈̞̮͎̯͔̤̋̊̀͒̓̍̆̽̄̄̃̀͊͠K̸̮̣̣̏!̸̩̩̭̼̜̜̻̻͎̻̈̔͐̐́̌̆̇͌̆́͋̍̆̇̏̕”

 

The voice struck at her like a wrecking ball, but unlike before she managed to ground herself more easily. “IT’S HERE!” She said pointing with her hand to the wall at the left.

The Gothic Magical Girl quickly turned her attention to that wall and sure enough, a second after the wall burst into fragments as the shadow man walked into the room. She could still see the shadow tide coming in the distance, but the shadow man was here.

“...he got us. He wasn’t with the shadow tide.” The blue-haired magical girl said as she put one of her hands at the side of her head and started speaking. “[Law Bringer Centinel] reporting, we have made contact with the suspect. Confirming the identity behind the [Shadow Tide].”

“[Shadow Pact], you are giving us former tainted a bad name.” The Gothic Lolita said as she pointed at the man with a teddy bear. “Return with us in peace, you may have stood at the peak of the [Tainted], but even so. You need to accept your sins.”

“My sins?” The shadow man spoke as he threw his mask away, behind it stood…what could pass as a handsome man at another time, right now his face was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot and like her. His pupils were crimson red. “MY SINS?!?!?”

As he spoke the shadows around started trembling.

“[Shadow Roses]!” The gothic Lolita magical girl said as a magical circle manifested from the teddy bear and in an instant, from the shadows, black roses started sprouting.

In each shadow that one rose sprouted from they stopped trembling, was she taking ownership of them and in turn preventing the shadow man from controlling them?

“THEY TOOK MY SISTER FROM ME, AND THEN THEY ALL FORGOT AS IF IT WAS NOTHING!” The shadow man said as he started crying blood, with his hands he started pulling at his hair as he screamed, “YOU ALL FORGOT ABOUT HER! SHE WAS INNOCENT! SHE DID NOTHING WRONG! AND YOU ALL FORGET ABOUT HER?!?!?”

Alice had thought about using this opportunity to try and sneak away, and while her sister seemed to be preparing to fight, she wasn’t. She knew the level of power commanding so many shadows implied, she could barely control her own shadow to attack. The fact that the shadow man could command a tide that big from a distance?

The fact that the Magical Girl Lunar shade could prevent shadows from moving? It meant that she was outclassed here.

“AND THEN THERE IS HER!” The shadow man said pointing at her, “I WAS TRYING TO SUMMON MY SISTER BACK, BUT SHE SHOWED UP! SHE KNOWS SOMETHING! SHE HAS SOMETHING! SHE CAN GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER!”

Was that the reason she had been in that basement? This deranged man had tried to…what? Summon his sister back?

“The dead can’t return back, that is the domain of the [Gods] you should know this [Shadow Pact].” Lunar Shade said as her blue eyes seemed to shine just a little brighter. “I am truly sorry for your loss, but you have caused too much destruction, too many wounded…You need to answer for your [Crimes].”

“Oh, but she isn’t dead.” The Shadow Man smiled at them, “I know it, she gave me this!”

As he said that he raised his right arm, on it was a bracelet with a yellow gem, somehow, she could sense what was inside it. It was…her energy? Mana?

“So long this gem shines my sister is alive!” The shadow man said as he turned to look at her, so was he using that to chase her?

“[Shadow Pact] think about your standing, think about what you are doing to us former tainted!” Lunar Shade tried to reason again with the shadow man. Why did she keep saying that name?

“I am not [Shadow Pact]!” The shadow man screamed once more as from his shadow other copies of him started walking, “[Shadow Pact] was someone who couldn’t protect his sister. He was a man who couldn’t help his sister…”

As he spoke more and more copies of himself kept showing, one by one they all started to fill in the room. “I am Maximilian Windsor, I am [The Shadow Tide]. “

She felt it before it happened, a ping spreading through the shadows all around them, somehow, she was able to feel it, as it spread across the city.

 

“̶̫͚̪̋̿̈́̂̉̕ ̵̢̛̼͕̫͚͍̳͎̟̖̱͍͚̰̜̿̽͐́̀́̈́̎̄̀̓̀͒͑͜͝Ä̸̬̰͕̓̾̂̑͊͝͠n̶̩̲͇̹̎̉̈́͌̈́̑̐ͅd̶̨͍̻̩̜͕̒͗̽͜ ̴̺̹͓͛͋̔̓̔͊͊͌̌I̷̝̖̥͗͆̀̌͑͗̔͠ ̶̧͙̯̟̱̘̱͙͈̤̜̻͙̳̊̋̒̑̓̎̈́͋̕w̶̡̫̲͕̼̦̬̣͓̃͌͛͊͠í̸̭̦̜̺͚̰̩̫̬̜̈́͆̑͊͑̉͂̀́̔͜l̶͚̯̥̪̖̖͙̰͇͔̮̜͔̗͊̉̐͂̑̎́͗l̸̘̘͙̝̑̀̽̄̆̄͆͑̀͠ ̷̭̼̪̺̜͙̱̰̩̎͐̓̍͒̒̈͊͝͠ǵ̷̙͇̠̻̬̦̑̑͒͋ȅ̸̖̮̬͕̙̜̙̤̜͚̋͂̔͌̀͂͗̓̂̚͘t̸̡̨̩̝̦̻̬̘̒̈́͋̿͆͒̊̓͘͠͠ ̸̧͇̫̠̖͙̺̟̖͙̙̖͚͑̍̿̒̈́͌̉͋͘͘͜m̵̩̊̐̇͆̄̇̇̕y̸̢̛͇̠͓̬̰̦͑̈́́̃̒̍̎͘͝͠ ̸̝̤̆̅͂̈́̿͆̈́̓͊́̕͝͝͝ͅş̶̰̘̫̬̩͉͈̭̩̳̣̹̿͒̅̏͝ī̵̝͍͓̣̫̻͈͎̂͂̍̄̓́̂͠s̶͍͌́̌̾ţ̷̛͍̳̪͍̽̈́̏̓̋͊̓͐͒̽̈̓e̸̡̫̫̭͓̘͇̙̯͙̺͕̖̐͒̌̊͒̀̄͋̎̈́͘r̶̨̢̬̼̥̜̰̭͕̱͇͓̜̹̜̬̋̉͊́̈́̽̇̇̊͗̀̐ ̶̨̣̲͕̲͍̼̘̉̽͛̈̔̊̑͗̆͐ͅḅ̴̢̢̧̯̭͓̘͍̗̥̥̱̝̮̚ͅͅa̵͓̩̞͙̳̘̘̤̟͈̬̜̙̰̖̭͂̉͆̓͑͋͋̒̾̊ͅc̵͚̈̍̋k̶̛̪̦͚̖̤͉̺͊͑͒̒͂̀̾̂͑̔̕͝͠͠ͅ”

 

…. They needed to leave this place.