Brax was huffing, struggling to catch his breath. He spent the day sparring with Kofi, trying to control the flow of his magic in the midst of battle. It was tough for him, especially against a warrior who had trained his natural magic all his life, but he kept at it. Finally, Brax gave in and fell forward, unable to continue.
"I believe I see your problem," Kofi said. "The strain is too much on your aging body. You can't take it. You have all this latent power, but after a life of general stagnation, the vessel is weak."
"So what ya saying is that it's too late for me to be super strong?" Brax asked, a bit disheartened. "It's not like I already knew that. It just kinda hurts to hear, ya know?"
"It is never too late," Kofi assured. "You just have to work harder to catch up."
"Even so, it's useless," Brax said. "Take Xinyu, for example. She's 'bout twenty, but she's at a point I could never reach."
"Do not compare yourself to the peak of a mountain you are not climbing," Kofi said. "Do that, and you'll get stuck at the base, looking up without ever even taking a single step."
"Ya know, you kinda sound like he–" Brax started, but stopped short when he saw something sailing towards them in the distance. As it got closer, he realized it was a magic cart piloted by Cygnus and his crew. As soon as they reached Kofi and Brax, all four of them hopped out of the vehicle.
"Sister! What are you doing here?" Kofi asked.
"Just as you've taken Brax under your tutelage, I've taken Ada under mine," Cygnus said. "But we've got more pressing matters to attend to. Brax."
"Yeah?"
"Before your arrival in Wunderdum, our radars picked up a large concentration of anomalous energy, energy identical to when the angel attacked. Did you guys encounter anything strange?" Cygnus asked.
"No," Brax said, looking away. "Nothin'"
"So this was a waste of time after all," Samson said.
"Now hold on," Cygnus said as he walked up to Brax. "Xinyu is missing. I'm sure she's fine, but we really need to find out everything we can about these strange readings as soon as possible. If anyone knows anything, it would be you guys. I assure you, no one is watching anymore."
"Urf, well, I s'pose I don't got a choice," Brax said. "Xinyu told me to keep it a secret, but I think she wanted to tell you eventually anyway. That black magic you sensed was probably that witch."
"A witch?" Epsilon asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"We don't know ourselves," Brax said. "She was tall and thin, and wore a dress of shadows. Xinyu thinks she had something to do with the angel."
"That would make sense," Cygnus said. "But that doesn't help us much."
The conversation was interrupted when a beeping came from the magic cart. Samson ungraciously ran to it and pulled out a crystal tablet, which was the radar they had been using to track the anomalous magic. He stared at it in horror.
"We've got another reading showing up," Samson said. "Much greater than anything else. This could be it."
"Ada! Around where is that concentration of magic?" Cygnus asked.
"That's… Kalahari," Ada said uneasily.
"Let us be off! Cygnus said. "With brilliance!"