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| Jade sat a little ways from the edge of the ocean, perched on top of a boulder in the middle of the sand. Occasionally she glanced behind her, but she saw no one. The only living things besides her were all the way back in town, up in the mountain a little ways from the beach. Running a hand through her ebony hair, Jade pulled out a cloth dampened in sea water and began cleaning a dagger at her lap. The engraved blade was caked in a dark green substance, which Jade knew to be blood. Earlier in the day, she had woken to find a hideous monster in her room, which had just been about to attack her. Several lacerations and bruises later, an annoyed Jade had thrown the beast’s body from her balcony, which extended slightly over the side of an edge of the cliff and watched it fall to the rocks below. Jade frowned slightly as she thought about the event. Had the monster come specifically for her, or was it just causing random trouble? If it was there for her, then who had sent it? It could have been her great-uncle or grandparents, but she wasn’t entirely sure if they wanted her dead—which the monster obviously had. It was unlikely and likely at the same time that they had sent it. She was their last heir to the line, and yet she wasn’t like them, wasn’t evil. The other option, besides deranged family, was someone from Waefae’s clan trying to get rid of her—a more than likely possibility. Suddenly thinking of the town she was in, Jade decided the monster must have been random. After all, it was extremely hard, nearly impossible, to track someone underneath the thick layer of magic that cloaked the town. So many magical artifacts were here, that all their auras mixed and flowed, so that one could feel the magic by just walking down the street. That was part of the reason Jade was here at the ocean. If there was such thing as a magical overdose, then Jade surely had it. She could barely breath in that town. But out by the ocean, listening to the waves crashing against the rocks, Jade was completely relaxed… or at least as relaxed as possible. But Jade was always alert. In this new world, one had to be. The new sides had created new tensions, and Jade was sure that there was war in the future. She knew she would side with the Queen and fight for good, but she still was nervous of evil temptations. She and her father were the first non-evil members of the family—what if she would be tempted too easily to switch to the dark side? She’d never do it willingly… but what if she couldn’t help being turned? Slightly troubled, the young woman went back to cleaning her blade. |