Chapter 67: Truth

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"Once upon a time... There stood a lonely tower."

The white void surrounding Y/N changes to a picturesque meadow, a well-worn brick road, and a fairy tale castle in the distance, the centerpiece of which was the tallest tower.

"That sheltered a lonely girl." Appearing in front of Glynda, a young woman, styling her long, pale blonde hair in front of a fancy mirror. She turns around, her expression one of boredom and melancholy. "Named... Salem."

The scene changes, with the woman now known as Salem standing in front of a large window, overlooking a vast kingdom.

"Imprisoned by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing: freedom. She lived in a time when kings and their kingdoms were plentiful, when men and women were capable of greatness, and Magic was a gift from the Gods that all could wield." Salem sits down in the chair in front of her mirror, depressed. She summons a whirlwind of magic, different elements swirling around above her hand. "And yet there she sat within her tower."

Blue mist erases Salem and her surroundings, reforming the environment to one outside the castle, where a warrior wielding a staff is standing heroically, looking onward toward the castle as Quin approaches him to get a better look.

"Until one day, a legendary hero came to brave the challenges within the tower's walls. The people of the lands knew him as Ozma." He walks forward toward the tower confidently, gripping his staff. "Unlike those who came before, this warrior was not driven by the prize of the young maiden's hand. He fought only for righteousness, and his pure heart and his courageous soul prevailed."

Slaying some sort of magical construct with the powerful magic from the gem atop his staff, Ozma strides past his defeated foe, opening the door to Salem's chamber. Surprised that someone was able to succeed where so many others had failed, Salem quickly stands, astonished yet overjoyed that someone had finally come.

"As they started to escape Salem's prison, something called to Ozma, something he had never felt before. He opened a door to a seemingly empty room. Salem had asked him to hurry, but Ozma felt captivated. He silently walked into the room, and in the center, a pedestal came up from the floor, revealing a prize aside from Salem herself."

As the pedestal rises, Ozma looks on in awe as something so small exudes Magic power. A small, red stone carving, its shape unfamiliar to Ozma. He reaches out for it as Salem watches, intrigued as she could also feel what has presented itself to her savior, yet had no idea what it was.

Y/N: "That's...!"

Your hand goes to his chest, where he feels his newly obtained Magic power hum, as if it's recognizing the item in the vision.

Your hand goes to his chest, where he feels his newly obtained Magic power hum, as if it's recognizing the item in the vision

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"The relic of a forgotten age gripped Ozma, and he took it for himself. They escaped the wretched fortress. And yet something bound them together." The warrior and captive girl gaze at each other longingly as they run far from the tower. "Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving it for. And Salem, to her surprise, found her freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for, but in the eyes of the man that had saved her."

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