CHAPTER 110: LIMITS

"What?"

"What?"

"What did you say?" Maeve asks.

"What did you hear?" Julian looks awkward, mentally kicking himself.

"I... I didn’t hear you clearly. I was too busy spiralling." Maeve rubs her face, embarrassed.

Julian exhales slowly. "I said... are you sure? Are you sure you’ve actually broken your oath? How would they know? They can’t kick you out if they don’t know, right? Let’s just keep quiet. It’s not like you deliberately told anyone."

"They’d know. There’s a consequence if you break it." Maeve says quietly.

"What is it?" Julian asks, serious.

"I’ll turn ugly." Maeve says.

"What?" Julian blinks.

"I’ll get puss, scars, bumps, and whatever else that’ll turn me into an ugly woman." Maeve looks helpless.

Julian’s face twitches. He is fighting for his life not to laugh.

"Really? That’s the consequence? Who... Hmpft... who came up with that?" Julian is dying.

Maeve doesn’t notice. "I don’t know. But it happened once. And it was brutal." She shivers.

"And... how long... hmpft... until it takes effect?"

"Right after... oh my god! Has it started yet? My face! Did my face change?" Maeve panics, touching her cheeks everywhere. Smooth. Normal. Perfectly fine.

"I’m not... I’m not... changing. Julian! I’m not changing!" Maeve looks ready to jump.

"Hahahahahahaha..." Julian completely loses it.

"Julian!"

"Hahahahahahaha..."

He keeps laughing like he’s dying.

Arthur and Liam turn toward the noise.

Liam sighs. "Being in love is good for him." He smiles.

Arthur snaps his eyes to him. "In love?"

Liam looks back at him. "Yeah. You don’t notice?"

"But they just met!"

Liam scoffs. "Buddy, love doesn’t need time. It can happen in an instant." He says it like some wise monk. He is very much not.

Arthur looks at Julian and Maeve, speechless.

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"Chief, I’m not lying. All three Montrose children are missing. I got this information from an inside source."

Chief Stille breaks into a grin.

"This is good news?" his subordinate asks.

"It is very good. Means no one can stop me at the mining site. Now hurry and bring our machines. We’re mining those heartstones until they come back. Move!"

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"Okay, okay, I’ll stop laughing." Julian wipes his eyes.

He looks at Maeve with a huge grin. "See? You haven’t turned ugly. It means you’re not breaking anything. You should be happy."

Maeve pouts. "I am happy. And you’re about to ruin it for me."

Julian bites another laugh down. "I’m sorry. I’ll stop now."

"Can you... tell me the earth spell now?" he asks.

Maeve hesitates. "I don’t think it’s a good idea. Telling you the spell can mean I’m breaking the oath. I don’t want to risk it."

Julian falls silent.

Maeve waits, equally silent.

"Fair enough. I’ll wait for Aldriana then." He smiles wryly.

"Tierra."

"Huh?"

Maeve blinks. "I didn’t say anything."

But Julian is grinning. "Yeah. You didn’t."

He turns and practically skips back toward Arthur and Liam.

"Woohoo!"

Maeve smiles helplessly at his joy.

Julian reaches the men in seconds.

"You got it?" Liam asks.

Julian nods. He lifts his palm. "Tierra."

A rumble answers him. Julian feels it vibrate inside his bones.

A lump of dirt and dry mud appears from thin air, shaped into a floating pillar above his hand.

Julian’s entire face lights up. He looks like a kid given the keys to Disneyland.

"Look! It works! I can do magic! I’m a magus!"

"What?!"

All heads snap toward Sam, standing frozen at the entrance with his mouth hanging open.

He stares back at them like he just walked into an alien cult.

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Sam feels like he is being dumped into a washing machine that suddenly switches to top-speed spin.

First, Aldriana traps him inside a clear bubble.

What?!

Then the bubble lifts off the ground and flies behind Aldriana, who is also flying on her own.

What?!

He can barely see anything. The dungeon is extremely dark. The only illumination comes from glowing trees and bushes.

What?!

Aldriana flies through that darkness without any light source, yet she navigates and maneuvers like a fighter jet.

What?!

Before he can process any of it, they arrive at a cave.

Aldriana pops his bubble and pulls him inside.

He expects to see his employer with his younger siblings, (he still believes Thea is here with them), along with Master Liam, all huddled together, exhausted or at least looking like normal humans.

Instead, he sees Master Julian standing with his palm up as a floating pillar of dirt and dry mud forms out of thin air.

Julian is cheering that he is a magus.

What the hell?!

Sam is seconds away from hyperventilating. His lungs tighten. His vision clouds. His brain is about to short-circuit.

The only thing keeping him upright is Arthur’s familiar cold gaze locking onto him.

Arthur’s stare is the one thread of sanity he has left.

Then his gaze shifts to Arthur’s hands.

His eyes widen... then slowly roll back, showing only white.

Samuel Mora, the most capable assistant in all Altheon, the man who has handled CEOs, crises, political storms, billion-dollar negotiations, without ever breaking a sweat, slumps to the ground.

And passes out cold.

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Arthur follows Sam’s gaze to his own hand, which is wrapped in a glove of bluish-orange fire, then back to Sam, who is slowly slumps on the ground.

He blinks.

"Sam?"

His assistant has handled everything Arthur has ever thrown at him without blinking. Apparently even Sam Mora has limits, just like other humans.

"Sam?" Julian echoes, equally stunned. In all the years he’s known Sam, not once has the man even flinched, let alone passed out.

"Art, he passed out," Julian states the obvious.

"Yes, I can see that." Arthur tears his gaze from Sam and pins Aldriana with a frown. "Why is he here? How is he here?"

"I was trying to seal the dungeon like I said," Aldriana answers, sounding tired, "and he got sucked inside."

"Why didn’t you force him to leave? It’s dangerous here!" Arthur snaps.

Liam’s eyebrows shoot up.

He pats Arthur’s shoulder once... twice... silently saying, Buddy, I respect the balls you have for scolding Aldriana like that.

Arthur doesn’t notice. He just keeps frowning at Aldriana, waiting for her explanation.