A new Day

Amy had much to think about what Selim said.

His past

His confession

His heart

She didn't even feel like crying. Rather... she can't bring herself to. Is she just numb to the pain or is it because she just couldn't bring herself to shed any tears?

"I'm confused. Selim was caught in that spell early. Why is that?" Boris says.

"He is unaware of the spell at all and says that someone made him do it." Alabaster explained.

She thought for a moment. His glassy eyes and behavior are too calm, and monotone compared to what everyone else has gone through. This is a different spell with similar effects She then shook her head at the lack of a definitive answer.

"Seeing those crystals, we both know who is responsible." Alabaster says.

Yes, it is quite obvious. The culprit is Christopher Durham, the current Prime Minister.

In the story, there are many villains but not all of them are enemies because of their physical strength. In Solin, Christopher Durham is one of them. He is the current Prime Minister of Solin and the only person who holds so much power that it rivals the royalty. He and Leon have some sort of cold war when it comes to power. On one hand, Leon is popular with his citizens and is an extremely powerful ability user. The truth is that Leon is powerful enough to overthrow his own government, but he has strangely played by the rules because he cares about the next generation and his children.

As for Christopher, he is powerful in his own right. No one in his family is an ability user but he is extremely capable as he brought Solin to prosperity after the war even though he has condoned a lot of corruption. He wishes to bring his ideas and ambitions to reality on the expense of the people. After an era of peace, he became paranoid and wishes to create a legacy for himself by marrying one of his grandsons to one of the princesses but failed miserably. After multiple setbacks, he tried to overthrow the monarchy but was killed and his entire family was tried for treason.

His most heinous crime is taking monsters illegally and experimenting with them and farming magic out of them to make magic crystals to combat the magic crystal shortage as there isn't enough of them. It got so out of hand that he began using humans, turning them into magic crystals as well.

He is the only villain that does this.

Christopher was one of the couple villains that she couldn't kill because of his importance in the story. Compared to the larger villains, he tames in comparison. That doesn't mean that he is less bad than anyone though. All the villains she had killed are third rate and had almost nothing to contribute to the story other than the sake of just being bad guys. 

"What about the circle? There is almost no one alive who would still know this spell. Martine Zoe has to be the culprit. It is suspicious."

"It's not her." Amy argued, "Martine Zoe's absence is a perfect opportunity to set up these circles. It had to be someone with more power."

Alabaster looks doubtful. "Well, even if you are right, it can't be the current Prime Minister. He is incapable of something like this."

"It isn't him." she said. "Who is the one person who doesn't make many appearances and still be powerful?"

Alabaster looks surprised and Boris quickly caught on to her.

"Leon knows." Amy said. "He figured it out."

"How did you know?"

"Because they told me." she replied cooly then stared at Alabaster. "Go find Selim's brother. Make sure he is safe and away from Damat. When you find him, I want to meet him." Amy said to Alabaster.

"I'll do that." Alabaster says.

"As for you Boris, focus on the Yerenis project. We got the succubus contract. It is time to summon her."

"We will also need to keep an eye on the palace. Leon is smart enough to know that something is amiss so he will need the support."

Amy watched the sun rise with Alabaster and Boris.

"Today is a new day." Boris commented.

Amy and Alabaster continue to watch the lovely sight. Amy once heard something from her old life. No matter how ugly the world is, there is still beauty when you seek it.

It is a new day. 

*

Leon spied on someone inside the palace and sports a dark look on his face. His suspicions are confirmed.

"Well, things just got complicating." he murmured.

*

Amy hasn't slept in over a day. She watched the moon and with a melancholy sigh while holding her scrying orb, she looked over to see Lisa approaching her.

"Can't sleep?"

Amy shook her head.

"You were in a bad mood all day. Are you homesick?"

Amy sniffed in response, "Yeah," she replied, and Lisa looked over to see her shed some tears.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. That is quite insensitive of me." She panicked and sat by her side.

"A friend of mine died."

Lisa wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I know how that feels." she murmured. "When you're in my line of work, you see that often."

"I did nothing and because of that, it got him killed." Amy says softly, "I thought they can handle it themselves and I knew what is going to happen, but I chose to come to this expedition. If I had stayed, then this wouldn't happen at all."

"If you couldn't stop it then it isn't your fault at all." Lisa assured her.

This is not the same.

She had faith that Leon and the others could live but she didn't account for Selim. He was valuable and didn't try to kill anyone so she was confident that he could be spared but because of this trance he was in, he died.

She didn't blame Viola, Sabina, Theseus, Melissa or Nathaniel. Instead, there is only one person who could do this.