The Maid and Her Princess

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is! (Winter 5)

V.

Madoka's boots crunched on snow and dirt. Trees toppled over and tumbled downhill in the wake of Audrey's deadly magic spell. She smelled fresh air for the first time in way too long. Below her lay a valley under a blanket of thin clouds, greens layered under a stretched cotton. Above her, the twisted sky returned to a blue sky with a sleepy sun hanging lazily in the sky.

She heard breathing huff behind her and hurried and eager steps approach her.

"Wow," Audrey said. The blue skies could not compare to the beauty of her eyes. "You can see everything here, huh. There, that speck of brown is our next stop after... Don't look at me like that! It's a town! We'll be able to figure out what the heck we want to do in there."

Madoka squinted at the town. It did not seem to be set on fire.

"Furthermore," Audrey said triumphantly. "I am no longer a level one support mage! Now, I am a level TWO support mage!"

"P-Please," Madoka begged. "Not another fireball."

"Fireball?" Audrey said incredulously. "That wasn't a fireball, I merely ignited oxygen, added more and threw hydrogen in the mix before—"

"None of that, please!" Madoka snapped. "How did you even get that strong? You had one ring around your heart and now there's two— Oh, that's what a level up means."

Audrey spun and her "improved" core burst to life. The two bands were pure blue rings of magic but swirled with different colors, mystifying Madoka. Never once did they collide with each other, dancing in a perfect and precise rhythm. She wondered if they changed colors depending on her mood.

"I cultivated mana. Well, not cultivate, but that's the best term I could come up with," Audrey tried to explain. "It's kind of like, well, focusing your soul as a bubble and stuffing as much mana into it while trying to not make it pop. Okay, look, it's just really difficult to explain! Trust me!"

Madoka stared at her blankly.

"Don't judge me!" Audrey sighed. "This is worse than explaining my magic ring to those mages back in the day. They stared in awe. Apparently, my magic is unique to everyone. Isn't that cool? Hello? React or something!"

Madoka did not utter a word and kept staring.

"I think I see a black hole whenever I absorb too much mana," Audrey pouted before continuing. "Like a huge soul trying to reach out and absorb my own soul. Gazing into it makes me feel like I'll die but that's a minor side effect of leveling up. I'm going to try and do it again!"

"Audrey Elise Dalion," Madoka said sternly.

"Eep! Okay, okay!" Audrey whined. "I won't do it unless I know I can survive. Speaking of surviving... This guy did not survive."

She took a molten and mottled talisman out of her bag. Madoka recognized the halo floating above it but it was now bent and missing half of itself.

"What did you do to it? D-Don't we need that?"

"I was told to use it as a sort of, fuel, for my magic core," Audrey shrugged. "Before you get on my case, Ares said it was okay! The talisman helped me get enough mana to make a breakthrough!"

"If that's what the kind god desires," Madoka supposed. She had no idea what Audrey truly meant. The two were marching up mountain's stone path towards the Wind Serpent God's temple. The thought of that strange serpentine talisman came to her mind. Oh yeah, she remembered. That was the one Audrey was afraid to use.

She realized the path they walked on were the rooftops of the Frost Queen's Hall. Dirt and exposed stone, she grumbled as she walked on. They trudged along for awhile and found shelter underneath a crag in the mountainside. The sun began to set like an incandescent giant crashing to sleep beyond the horizon. No thoughts of animals disturbed this holy mountain, Madoka observed silently while Audrey looked at the space. She stopped and channeled her storage portal, seemingly satisfied with their location.