A Plot Between Sisters

She paced back and forth across the marble floor, her thick heels making loud, echoing thuds on the hard surface as she moved with agitation. The regal yet somewhat worn looking dress she wore swirled each time that the Highborne elf reached the end of the space in which she was pacing and settled again as she turned and paced back in the other direction.

Average in height with long, flowing purple hair, Binestra Nightwind was exactly what one would picture if someone said the word Highborne. Bedecked in expensive jewelry and carrying an array of magical artifacts and gems on her person, she looked like the perfect example of an expert sorceress.

Looks could be deceiving of course.

The nervous Highborne jumped as the door to the study in which she paced suddenly burst open, another elf entering and slamming the wooden barrier shut behind her. Binestra gasped, hurrying over to the other elf and laying her hands upon the door next to the newcomer, both of them half chanting, half singing the words to wards and spells to keep the portal sealed. After a moment the wood began to glimmer with magic, sealing the chamber and those beyond off from the rest of Eldre'Thalas.

With a sigh, Binestra turned and leaned heavily against the door, looking the other elf over critically. She turned, an almost identical gaze rising to meet Binestra's questioning stare, the two faces remarkably similar. It made sense of course, as Arozniel was Binestra's sister and closest friend. Beyond their facial features, Arozniel shared Binestra's long purple hair as well as her habit of wearing nice clothing and jewels.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Arozniel smiled and nodded, reaching down to a pouch at her belt and pulling out a key. The object looked mundane, but to the two spellcasters it was quite obviously imbued with arcane energies. Both of them stared down at it in wonder, as if unable to believe it was in their possession.

"You've done it, sister!" Binestra said with a smile.

"Of course, you didn't think I would let them stop me, did you? Really now, have some more confidence in me," Arozniel replied somewhat smugly. "The question is whether or not our plan will work."

"It will work, it has to," Binestra replied. "I've prepared the portal stone. All we need to do is use the key and we'll be gone from this place before the Master notices it has gone missing."

Arozniel nodded, stepping away from the temporarily sealed door, her own heels making loud echoing noises as she proceeded further into the lavish room. The holdings of House Nightwind had fallen on troubled times over the years as the ruins of Eldre'Thalas became ever more dangerous and filled with beasts, but the inner chambers held by the two sisters still consisted of several rooms outfitted with the best luxuries the two could salvage from what was once a proud city. Even so, both of them looked about the place with distaste as they took what would likely be their last look at the room for some time.

"Let us proceed then. The Master said that we were forbidden from using the key, and if he discovers us before we've finished we will never have another opportunity. As it is, he'll severely punish those who were supposed to be guarding the artifact," Arozniel said, bringing the key out and holding it over the portal stone sitting atop a small pedestal in the room.

Binestra nodded, hurrying from her place at the wooden barrier and over to where her sister waited, both of the Highborne looking down at the portal stone and portal key with greedy eyes. The object represented freedom from the strict lessons in magic they were forced to endure, freedom from a slowly crumbling city and lives spent toiling to make amends for things that their ancestors had done and which the two had no part in. It mattered little to them what the outside world would make of them, only that they would be able to start anew, to grow their power as they saw fit.

To rebuild the glory that once was House Nightwind.

Eagerly both Highborne reached out, placing their hands on the portal stone as Arozniel brought the key down and inserted it in a slot atop the stone. The powerful magic object was reserved for use by only the best trained amongst their instructor's students, and not for the two rather ambitious young women to touch and use as they wished.

With an almost identical smirk, the two Highborne chanted, their spells activating the key and the portal stone. In a flash of light, a portal opened beside the table where they stood, its shape deforming for a moment before it stabilized. A moment later, pounding could be heard at the door as the other apprentices tried to stop them. It would take hours for them to breach the wards that the two had placed in preparation for their departure however.

With the portal stable, Arozniel removed the key from the stone, slipping the powerful object back into her pouch. Binestra walked across the room, picking up a small bag that she strapped along her back and then bending down to pick up two staves. With a smile she handed one to her sister, and the two walked casually towards the portal.

Even as the shouts and banging grew in intensity against the sealed door behind them, the violet-haired Highborne both stepped into the glowing portal. Magic flashed and the portal rippled, sending them far from Eldre'Thalas and the rigid life they had been living, freeing them to do as they pleased.

A moment later the portal flickered one more time and collapsed, leaving the room silent and still, in stark contrast to what the portal had just unleashed on the world.

Blast from the Past- Part 2

Thirty seven times. She had tried thirty seven times to escape from the Stormspire. Each and every time, Biara had reappeared in the small clearing, her clothes and hair dripping wet with sea water and with no time having passed from the very first moment she had appeared in that place.

It was unbearable torture to be stuck in a single day for all of eternity. Almost a month had passed, and yet no time had actually passed because it was always that same moment in time. Try as she might, no magic, no trick would free her from that moment, and it was beginning to weigh on Biara's mind. She had contemplated hurling herself from the Stormspire, but she strongly suspected that such an act would only result in extreme pain followed by waking up in the exact same spot she had the thirty seven times before.

She had thought long and hard about the situation, and there was only one solution, but it was utterly and unbelievably reckless. Yet she felt, in this moment, that it suited her perfectly, and so she waited amongst the tall grasses with an invisibility spell wrapped around her, her temporarily dry clothes and body hidden from plain sight.

As Biara had planned, a blonde-haired figure walked down a small path in the grasses, heading towards the Ethereals in the distance. She had seen this scene played out over a dozen times now, and knew precisely when to step onto the path and when to whisper the words that would remove the invisibility spell. As Biara did so, the figure paused, her face contorted in utter shock, a hand held to her mouth.

Biara of the present stood face to face with Biara of the past.

Past Biara managed to regain her composure finally, bringing her hand up and brushing errant strands of her cursed-blonde hair out of her face as she eyed her counterpart critically. Her tone was firm when she spoke, "You're breaking the rules."

"I know, but you also know that we wouldn't do so unless it was absolutely necessary," Biara replied.

Her past self nodded thoughtfully, studying Biara with the intelligence that they both shared. When she spoke, her voice was softer, "You give away more than you know simply by appearing before me."

Past Biara stepped forward, gently reaching out to touch Biara's fiery red locks of hair and then on to the wards on her face that glowed with the healthy light of protective spells, "You have cured this curse, and your presence tells me that I will live beyond this to see myself restored."

Biara nodded once, allowing her counter-part to examine her before replying, "This is nothing that we did not believe in your time. You didn't know of course, but you never stopped believing. Your knowledge that it will happen in time brings you no closer to finding the solution, and will only drive you onwards as if you still had that belief instead of the assurance that my presence brings."

Past Biara let her hand drop back to her side, smiling at her future self, "Well said. We always were quite brilliant I must say."

Biara laughed once, sharing a smile with her past self, "Let's not get narcissistic now, shall we? As you pointed out earlier, I came to break the rules and I did so for a purpose."

"Of course," Past Biara replied with a smirk. "I wish that you had decided to show yourself when Jazari was here. He would have adored to know that our experimentation with temporal magic was so successful. I understand why you didn't of course, but even so, it is a loss for him."

Biara sighed, looking past her double and down the trail behind her. Her voice was almost a whisper when she spoke, "I would give anything to see him again, but there is too much risk, both to time itself and to him personally. I couldn't put him in such danger."

A silence descended between the two Biaras as Past Biara nodded. After a moment, a secretive smile played across her lips and she too spoke in a whisper, "You know, this moment is the only point in time when I can truly say the things I feel, because you are the only one who will understand absolutely without judging. It's...amusing."

Biara grinned as she stared at her past self, understanding intimately what the other was implying, "He's totally amazing."

Past Biara grinned back, nodding and almost laughing, "Totally. And his mind..."

"Is delicious!" Biara smirked. "I'm not sure what makes him more attractive, his amazing intellect or the cute way he wears that hat."

"Fel, I know right?" Past Biara gushed. "And he has no idea how absolutely amazing it feels to be near his magic. It's like...how to describe it..."

"It's like cinnamon, spice, and ice cream all together," Biara said, completing her double's thoughts. "It was one of the most amazing things about him, just feeling his magic near me. I recall all of the times we worked together, fought together. You have...a lot of enjoyable moments in your future."

Past Biara grinned and nodded, "Don't worry, I will enjoy every second of them."

"I know you will! Even so, it is a shame that he can't know all of this or appreciate it. Imagine what he is missing right now? Two of me," Biara giggled.

"Well, eight if you want to count mirror images, but...." Past Biara said in a husky whisper.

Both past and present versions of Biara fell silent, lost in thought for a moment before laughing in unison with identical laughs and shaking their heads. Biara smiled at her past self and then sighed, her smile fading somewhat, "I would love to spend the rest of time speaking with myself, but I must push forward with this plan. It is a gamble, but I know it will pay off because even as we speak, I am remembering us speaking."

Past Biara nodded, fully understanding the complexities of time travel and what her future self was implying, "You intend to change the future by revealing something to me. I will not ask why, I know better than that. I will listen though and remember your words for when the time comes."

Biara grinned, knowing that her past self understood what she was about to do, "They will come for me once I speak the words I am about to say. I am expecting that. I am trapped here and the only way I can return is to take an object of power from one of them and use it to fuel my own spells to break free. I do not believe you will be in danger, because if they slay you before this time they will undo the acts that caused you to destroy that book, and it will have far greater impact on the future than what I am about to do. They will simply wish to kill me, at least that is what I hope."

Past Biara nodded, taking in her future self's words and understanding why she had come to break the rules of time travel. The bronze dragon flight would be displeased indeed and the thought made her smile, "I have every confidence in your...my...ability to deal with one of them. Your plan seems sound, so let us begin."

With a grin, Biara leaned towards her past self, her next words spoken in a quiet whisper, "One day, far from now, you will have a daughter..."

**********************************************

*Present Day, Sunfire Estate*

In the earliest hours of the morning, in a sealed off portion of Sunfire Estate's tower, a door bangs opened and two water elementals step aside as a small figure passes between them, emerging from her bedchambers that have suddenly sprung into existence in the hallway. The small figure pauses, stretching as she blinks sleep out of her eyes, the first rays of sunlight slanting through the windows in the hallway.

With a smile on her face, eight year old Astariel Dayfire, Biara's adopted daughter, walks slowly down the hallway in search of her Aunt Kyliska and some breakfast.

Throughout the spire, every Sin'dorei that had ever known of the three year old Astariel, of the young elf who had died so long ago when Dayfire Spire fell to attackers, suddenly felt an intense and sharp pain in their heads as the memories of two different timelines settle into their mind. In one set of memories, the young elf had passed during the battle.

In the other set of memories, she had been sent away long before the battle ever took place, as if her mother had known that it wouldn't be safe to be in the spire that day.

Blast from the Past- Part 1

The world spun crazily as she opened her eyes, and for a moment Biara could see nothing but a gray blur. Her head ached miserably, but she felt otherwise mostly intact. As she blinked her eyes, her vision came into focus and she saw tall grasses waving in front of her face. She was laying on the ground on her side, and she rolled over slightly until she was on her back.

Above her, the sky was a strange pink color, and it took several minutes of studying it before she realized she was looking at shielding that the Ethereals had put in place to protect structures from stormstrikes in Netherstorm. Once she came to this conclusion, Biara sat up slowly, letting her body adjust to the leftover bits of magic that were flowing through her. She noticed to her distaste that all of her clothing was wet down to her undergarments, and her hair was soaked and lay lank against her chilled skin.

"Fantastic," Biara murmured to herself. "Even so, it is far preferable to being dead I suppose."

She slowly got to her feet, brushing some bits of grass that were stuck to her wet clothes off before checking her surroundings. As she had first determined, she was indeed at the Stormspire in Netherstorm, and she could see several Ethereals in the distance standing amongst the structures there. She was off in a small clearing in the foliage, with tall grasses all around her waving gently in the breezes within the contained environment.

"I'm not going to ask how or why, I'm just going to go home. Kyli is probably worried sick," Biara said to no one. She brought her hands up and began to chant, opening a portal to Silvermoon. The portal flickered to life in front of her, the golds and reds of Silvermoon calling to her. Without hesitation she stepped into it, intent on heading home.

As she contacted the portal, Biara knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. A wracking pain arced through her body and she felt as if she was being bent and crushed by incredible forces. Pain rose up to swallow her and blackness claimed her as her portal malfunctioned.

************************

With a familiar dull ache in her head, Biara opened her eyes to see nothing but a gray blur. She took a deep breath, letting her body adjust for a moment before looking again. Tall grasses waved in front of her face, and she blinked in surprise to find herself laying in the same spot on the soft soil. Above her the flickering pink of the Ethereal shields continued to repel lightning strikes from the hostile environment outside.

"Okaaaay, that's a little strange," Biara murmured as she sat up. She again brushed bits of grass from her soaking wet dress and took stock of her situation. She was indeed in the exact same location she had just awoken in previously, and as she rose she saw the same Ethereals in the distance standing amongst some of the structures of the Stormspire. As she stared at them, she realized that they were standing and moving in the exact same way they had been the first time she looked at them. An eerie sense of deja vu filled her as she realized she was staring at the exact same scene.

"I don't know what is going on here, but if a portal doesn't work I will have to do this the old fashioned way and travel to the nearest Horde outpost," Biara said to herself. With this thought in mind, she brought her hands up and cast a spell, causing a ball of fire to hover in the air before her. She quickly stripped off her clothes down to her undergarments, standing nearly naked in front of the fireball and letting its heat warm her skin and dry her hair. She held her clothing up one piece at a time, drying each item before the flames. Once everything was dry, she donned her clothing again and set off at a brisk walk, heading for the elevator that would lead down from the top of the Stormspire.

**************************

Biara had traveled for many hours before the strange suns and moons of the Outlands began to sink below the horizon. True night never came to the twisted remnants of the shattered world, but it would soon be dark enough to sleep. Biara had walked for quite some time, and was feeling tired and hungry and in sore need of a rest.

Finding a relatively secluded spot amongst the broken and destroyed remnants of rock that made up Netherstorm, she spoke a few words of magic, summoning a carpet down between two tumbled boulders. With her bed in place, she turned and began drawing wards in the broken soil, setting up defenses to protect her from any of the wandering creatures that roamed the desolate wastes.

Once she was satisfied that her rest would be undisturbed, Biara sank gratefully down on the carpet, sighing with relief. She pulled off her boots, letting the cool air soothe her aching feet as she leaned back on the carpet. With a few more spoken words of magic, a plate of delicious food appeared next to her, conjured up with a spell. Beside it sat a decanter of wine with a tall glass nearby. Biara poured some of the wine into the glass, holding it up in mock toast.

"Well, here's to a little unexpected vacation!" she said cheerfully, sipping the wine before moving on to the food.

Once she was full, she pushed the plate aside and sank back on the carpet, sighing with relief and closing her eyes. As she drifted off to sleep, her last thought was that Netherstorm was not all that bad. At least the sky was pretty.

****************************

The world spun crazily as she opened her eyes, and for a moment Biara could see nothing but a gray blur. The familiar dull ache was back in her head, and she took a moment to allow herself to recover. When she opened her eyes again, she saw tall grasses waving in her face.

This time she sat up abruptly, extremely alarmed. As she looked around, she recognized the same little clearing at the top of the Stormspire that she had awoken in the last two times. She looked down at herself and as she had half-expected, she was soaking wet again, her boots back in place on her feet.

"What in the nether...?" she murmured, rising quickly. Sure enough, in the distance were the same Ethereals talking amongst themselves, the feeling of deja vu even stronger now as she came to realize that they were in the exact same spots and moving the same way they had been before.

A feeling of panic set in as Biara realized she was being returned to the same spot in time each time she attempted to leave. She examined herself closely, studying the magic within herself to see if she could determine the cause. There was something off about the flow of energy around her, but she could not immediately identify it. It was as if her magic were shifted just out of reach of her scrutiny, and it was a bit unnerving.

Not knowing what else to do, Biara began to look around at her surroundings more closely, trying to discover what it was about this particular spot that kept drawing her back. The little clearing appeared to be normal, with no magic within it and nothing out of the ordinary. Biara took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reaching out to feel for magic nearby.

There! There is a powerful temporal force beyond the grasses just to the east.

Still soaking wet from her dip in the ocean, Biara strode across the clearing, parting the grasses with her hands. A thrilling shock ran through her as she saw what was beyond them, and she gasped aloud before stumbling back and falling to her knees.

Beyond the grasses she had seen a device, made both of technology and magic. It was not just any device though, it was a device that she had helped build. A device meant to manipulate time itself, that had been powered with her magic and keyed to her blood and the blood of one other in an oath of friendship and magic.

But that was not what had made her gasp, not what made her freeze in indecision. Standing by the device had been two people. One of them was a gnome, his hat so familiar to Biara that she could easily picture it simply by closing her eyes. The other person....the other person had been a Sin'dorei with bleached blonde hair that was wearing ragged clothing as if she was a pauper.

Biara knew though, knew that the elf was not a pauper and that the blonde coloration of her hair was not natural. Instead, it was a noblewoman who had disguised herself so that she could meet with her friend, a gnome, to work on a secret project with him. Her hair was that color because she had been cursed.

She knew these facts most intimately, because the gnome had been Jazari, and the elf had been....herself, Biara Dayfire.

The shock of knowing that she was stuck in time, and that she was so near to her own past self, was enough to make Biara's eyes roll up in her head as she fainted. Without a sound she sank to the ground, blackness claiming her again.

*******************************

When her eyes opened later, the tall grasses waved slowly in the breeze once more from her place on the ground.

A Good Old Time

*Off the coast of Quel'Thalas in a place that had begun to be nicknamed 'Lover's Folly'*

The ship cut through the choppy waters, bopping up and down with each small whitecap that it struck as it made good speed towards the mass of vessels in the distance. A standard ship of Sin'dorei construction, it was an elegant vessel of gold and red, its mainsail catching the wind almost effortlessly as its expert crew guided it towards its destination. Atop the mast flew a single golden and red banner depicting the emblem of Silvermoon's Magistrate.

As the ships in the distance grew larger with proximity, Biara Sunfire walked along the deck of the Magistrate ship, her green eyes studying the flotilla keenly. There were a variety of ships at work in the area, most of them of goblin origin with odd shapes and designs. Quite a few of them were belching smoke and Biara found herself idly wondering if the clouds came from the engines or if the ships were genuinely on fire. Knowing goblins, the answer was likely both. Amongst the ragged collection of salvage vessels floated another ship, this one of Sin'dorei design and much larger than the ship Biara herself traveled on. Although she could not see it from such a great distance, she was quite sure that atop its own mast flew the proud banner of House Felo'melorn as they oversaw the salvage of the House Sunfire wreck beneath the waves.

As they drew nearer, the crew of the Magistrate vessel began to scurry around the deck, preparing to lower the sails to slow their speed. Biara watched them at work for a moment before returning her gaze to the sea. As she looked out over the water, she noticed two of the goblin vessels approaching them, the ships having broken away from the flotilla. Some voice of caution tickled the back of Biara's mind as she watched them, and she found herself gripping the gunwale firmly, staring hard at the ships now.

"Is something amiss, Magistrix Sunfire?" one of the deck crew asked. Another Sin'dorei stopped his work and looked over at Biara as well, concern on his face.

"There is something about those vessels..." Biara murmured. Her voice trailed off and the two crew members could see the wards sparkle on her face as she began to chant. A moment later she waved her hands towards the two vessels, completing the gestures needed for the counterspell.

What happened next could only be called astonishing as the two 'goblin' vessels began to shimmer, their forms wavering. A moment later the illusion around the two vessels shattered under the weight of Biara's magic, and in the place of goblin vessels were two heavily retrofitted orc ships, each with a large magical crystal on the deck and multiple decks of cannons along each side. The ominous looking vessels immediately picked up speed as their illusion broke, red and gold banners flapping atop their own masts.

"W-what...what is this?" one of the deckhands asked.

Biara merely shook her head, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she saw the familiar emblem of a sun breaking over the waves depicted on the ship's banners. Her voice was tight with tension as she replied, "House Dawnsea gunships. Looks like they picked up some Kor'kron vessels during the uprising."

Unfamiliar with House Sunfire's enemies, the deckhand closest to Biara shook his head in confusion, "What does it me-"

Biara turned abruptly, her eyes wide as she watched the gunports on the two ships open. She shouted, her cry carrying across the deck, "We're under attack! WATCH OUT!"

A second later she uttered the words to a blink spell, the magic curling around her and hurling her from the spot where she was standing not a moment too soon. Cannonballs spat from the sides of the first gunship, the projectiles covering the distance between the two vessels in a moment and slamming into the delicate observation ship the Magistrate had loaned to Biara. Explosions rocked the ship's deck, sending dead sailors and chunks of splintered wood in all directions.

Biara stumbled forward towards the aft of the ship as shouts of dismay rose up from the wounded and the echoes of more cannons firing sounded from the two gunships. She ran up the stairs leading to the ship's wheel as a shower of wood splinters rained down around her from two more direct hits to the center of the vessel. The Magistrate's ship was unarmed, and their only hope was to defend themselves with magic.

At the aft of the ship Biara skidded to a halt, crouching low as the sound of small arms fire came from the two gunships. Huddled beneath the cover of the gunwale were several mages who were part of the ships normal crew. Unused to battle, they huddled in a terrified clump while the captain battled to maintain control of the vessel's rudder.

Biara crouched beside them, her familiarity with combat making her voice firm and cutting through the cloying fear amongst the spellcasters, "We need to return fire or they'll destroy this vessel. We need to work together and hurl our spells as one. It's our only chance."

Several of the mages managed to nod at her, their pale faces full of fear but listening to her guidance. Biara gave them a reassuring nod, pointing towards the direction of the nearest ship, "On the count of three we rise and hurl our spells. Use fire. If you can set their ship alight they might have to withdraw. Aim true!"

The mages reluctantly prepared themselves, shifting in place. Several of them reached into their pouches or pulled out wands, preparing themselves for a battle they wanted no part of. Biara waited until another barrage of cannonballs slammed into the ship before beginning her count, knowing that the cannoneers would need time to reload.

"One....two....THREE!" she shouted.

 As one the mages rose, six in all and each with fire on their fingertips. Biara lead the attack, hurling a fireball across the distance between the two ships, her spell striking the gunship's deck and exploding there, sending sailors plummeting into the ocean. The others followed suit, their own spells striking various parts of the deck and starting fires here and there. The last spell hurled was conjured by a young apprentice, and Biara watched in admiration as her carefully aimed fireball actually slipped through the opening of one of the gunship's gunports. A second later a massive explosion rocked the ship as one of its powder rooms detonated, blasting a gaping hole in the side of the vessel. It immediately began to take on water, fires raging out of control from beneath its deck.

Biara turned to congratulate the young apprentice, seeing her eyes shining with pride at her success. Unfortunately at that moment the second ship fired shrapnel from its cannons, sending sharpened, twisted bits of metal across the distance and clearing the deck of the Magistrate's vessel. Biara lurched forward as hot metal struck her wards, nearly penetrating them. Dozens of sailors died around her, and the young apprentice she had been about to congratulate was hurled to the deck, her shoulder a mess of gore and exposed bone.

The Magistrate's vessel began to list as it took on water from the numerous holes that had been made in its deck, and Biara knew they were out of time. She turned to shout orders to the captain of the vessel, only to see him laying in a pool of his own blood where he had died at the wheel. She shouted the words to another blink spell, moving herself to the ship's wheel and taking it in both hands. With as much muscle as she could apply, Biara jerked the ship's wheel, causing the vessel to heave up in the water and throwing the remaining survivors on board to the deck.

The Magistrate vessel began to turn suddenly, the bow cutting through the water even as another round of cannon fire cut its mast down. Rigging, bits of wood, and doomed sailors rained to the deck as Biara held tight to the ship's wheel, her jaw clenched from her efforts. In the distance, the sailors on the House Dawnsea vessel began to shout as the Magistrate ship turned towards them, still moving at a good clip from its previous momentum. As the two ships continued to move, it was clear that they would collide and that there was little that would stop the collision.

"Brace for impact!" Biara yelled as the sinking Magistrate vessel slammed into the House Dawnsea gunship. The impact threw her to the deck and for a moment she saw stars as her head slammed into the wood. A second later she was back on her feet, desperation in her voice as she saw water begin to collect on the deck of the Magistrate's vessel; they had precious little time left.

"Everyone who can still stand, BOARD THEIR SHIP! FOR QUEL'THALAS!" Biara shouted, casting another blink spell and reappearing at the bow of her own doomed ship. A second later she was scrambling across the twisted wood that temporarily connected the two vessels, a ragged handful of surviving crew members scrambling behind her, swords in hand as they prepared for a boarding action that had far too few attackers to succeed.

As the boarding party made it to the deck of the gunship, the Magistrate's vessel began to slip beneath the waves, smoke from the nearby burning ship obscuring their last sight of it. Around them a fierce melee had begun as House Dawnsea's sailors tried to repel the assault. Highly trained marines, the House Dawnsea sailors began to cut down the relatively poorly trained Magistrate troops with ease.

In the center of the battle, Biara began to shout, her magic hurled outwards in all directions. Sailors burned or were frozen or impaled by ice as they assaulted the tiny group, the bodies piling up on the deck as the brutal slaughter continued. It was clear to everyone that the boarding party would lose the fight, but Biara continued onward, her eyes locked on her objective ahead.

Across the deck two mages hurled spells at her, their ice shards impacting on her wards and shattering against them. One of the mages watched Biara walk through the melee, chips of razor sharp ice reflecting from her barriers and hovering in the air almost in slow motion before striking the deck. In that moment, his eyes came to meet Biara's gaze, and the understanding of what she was about to do sent a spear of fear into his heart.

There was no remorse on her face, no fear, no sorrow. As she relentlessly walked through the battle, the blood of the fallen stained her robes and weapons flashed near her, but her gaze remained locked with his. He saw her pride, her ambition, and most of all he saw her fury. He knew that there would be no surrender from her, no quarter, and that she would fight to the bloodiest of deaths before she would ever give an inch. In the gaze that passed between them, he came to know why some amongst the House Dawnsea soldiers had nicknamed her 'Biara the Butcher'.

For a moment, Biara paused, her gaze shifting from the mage to the crystal that he guarded, the one that had been used to cloak the ship in its illusions. It was there to serve the needs of the crew, empower their spells, and provide for magical sustenance if they desired such. A powerful artifact, it contained delicately prepared spells to contain all of the raw magic within it. It took Biara only a moment to focus on the weakest part of its wards, one perfectly manicured nail pointing at it as she spat out the words of her spell.

The fireblast rocked the crystal, shattering the delicate balance of power and causing it to surge throughout the structure, overloading it with all the violence of the magic contained within it.

A second later the magic was released, the explosion the last that the mages guarding it ever saw.

**************************************

In the distance, the House Felo'melorn ship that had been guarding the salvage site turned towards the battle, the concerned sailors on its decks preparing to intervene and stop the fight before it got any worse. As they made headway towards it, they peered through the thick smoke that had risen up from the burning gunship, trying to ascertain what was going on.

The explosion was almost blinding, and many of them shielded their eyes as the second gunship detonated in a catastrophic blast. In the distance they could see debris being hurled into the air, cannons, bits of wood, and even crew members flying out over the ocean before plunging into it with  splashes here and there.

Although they couldn't see it, amongst those flying through the air was a flame-haired Magistrix whose robes had caught alight from the enormous blast. Her arc landed her near the burning ships, plunging her into the depths of the ocean.

*****************************************

It was cold, but the cold was soothing after nearly being on fire. Biara drifted in the water, the surface slipping away above her. She was in a daze, and her entire body ached from the concussion of the blast. Too tired and injured to swim, she watched almost passively as flickering lights of small explosions and fires illuminated the surface of the water, a firestorm consuming the remains of the three vessels above her.

And so this is how I die. It's fitting somehow, that I would die committing a massacre like my mother, but also die with valor fighting against my foes as my father would have wanted. I wonder if he will be proud of me, proud to know that I didn't give up even at the very end? It was how he raised me after all.

Above her the water's surface slipped further away, the cool darkness of the ocean's depths slowly claiming her. She knew that she had little time left, that the air in her lungs would expire and that there was no way now to take a breath or to rise back to the surface. All her power, all her magic could not change that fact.

It is strange to think that in another moment I will be gone. Time comes and goes for us all, but it always remains the constant behind it. I have but a moment of it left. At least the fires that consume my enemies above me are beautiful in their own way.

Her time was coming to an end, yet time itself would carry on. It made her think of her experiments with temporal magic; all of the various spells she had cast, had absorbed, and had even explored with others. It was odd to think of in that moment, but seemed fitting somehow when her own time was over. And yet her thoughts about time became more pressing as something strange began to happen.

It came to her in a wave of pain, the shock of it almost causing her to expel the last of her breath. It was akin to what divers described when they ascended from the depths too fast; tiny bubbles of agony flowing through her limbs. Biara knew that it was just a sensation however, even as she writhed in pain beneath the water. She had studied magic long enough to know that something was seriously wrong with her, that the magical fields from the exploding crystals above were interacting with something within her.

In the black depths of the ocean, Biara's eyes widened in horror as she came to realize it was not magic external to her, but magic that she had absorbed long ago. Magic that had been placed on a certain book that she was forbidden from reading. It was a spell that she had almost literally eaten in a sense, rising up to claim her now. A temporal lock placed on a tome so she could not get to it.

The temporal magic was within her, was within her blood. It was a little piece of time itself that could not die, that would not end with her death. Interacting with the wildly fluctuating magic above the water's surface where the crystal had detonated, it reached out to similar magic, similar spells sealed with blood.

And it found what it was seeking.

Biara brought a hand before her face, shocked to see it glowing so brightly that she could view it beneath the water's surface. She screamed as her entire body glowed, the spell colliding with the field above and whisking her away towards similar magic locked away elsewhere.

In her final moment, Biara's mind was filled with a wry thought that almost made her smile as she disappeared.

What have you done to me, Jazari?

*******************************

The surface of the water bubbled once as the space where the Magistrix had been beneath it was suddenly filled with empty vacuum from her sudden departure. It went unnoticed as three ships burned and sank beneath the waves, a testimony to the fury of the Scion of House Sunfire.

The rescue ships on the scene found no trace of Biara Sunfire amongst the wreckage.