Without the disturbance of her visions, Bidi was able to lead a normal life. But she couldn't avoid them forever. There were two powerful wizards competing for her alliance. They have both given her the visions before, but she had only met one of them, and she was deceived by his charm. The Black Hand had never revealed his true name to Bidi, but his unique looks made him more likable to her.
The Black Hand was clever and cunning, and he had been pulling all of Bidi's little strings. And he had already poisoned her against the only family that could defeat him. Having done the majority of his bidding, he would return again to force her to finish the job, but if all Stix were eliminated, The Black Hand would go unchecked by any.
What she didn't know was why Harvey Stix was keeping Albi safe, despite the war being over. He wasn't keeping him safe from Jax anymore, he was keeping him safe from Bidi.
She was a two faced celebrity. On one hand she promoted equality to all, but on the other, and not very long ago, she murdered innocent children. With a dark and complicated past, she was trying her best to maintain a well liked celebrity. And in society post war, scrutiny was often followed by a fall from grace.
With only one generation in her dynasty, she didn't have to live for the future, but her childhood forced her to yearn for positive praise, even if it was superficial and from strangers. Consequently, she paid very close attention to her approval ratings.
Faro now lived in a group home, where he would have nurses taking care of him. He was driven insane by the forest, and all he could do was moan and stare. Bidi tried to continue to see him regularly, but it was weighing on her too much. She would stop seeing him which made her feel super guilty, but it was best for her mental health.
This guilt would prompt Bidi to write a book about the forest. She was only in there for two weeks, and she was changed. She couldn't imagine being in there for months. As she was studying myths of the forest, she tried to get in contact with others who were in there as long as Faro. She, unfortunately, didn't know any of them by name, but she could now use resources to look them up.
Smoke started coming out of her floor, and she had a panic attack thinking of the fog on the ground of the forest. It was so dense. As she fell to the floor hyperventilating, The Black Hand appeared from the smoke and asked, "what are you doing on the floor?"
She took a few minutes to catch her breath and calm down, but she was reliving the feeling she had in the forest, and she was a captive for a very short period of time. She couldn't imagine being trapped in a cage as giant people picked one of your friends to consume alive in front of you. "Sorry," she played it off.
"Jax still lives," he said in a tone to showcase his annoyance.
"I don't know where he is. It's going to be nearly impossible to find him."
"You haven't been putting forth any effort into it," he accused her, "we had a deal. If you eliminate the Stix family, I will teach you how to travel through smoke."
"I just need more time," she apologized and pled for his patience.
"I have found Jax. He is living in Helhexa under the name Wade Greenberg. He is a fisherman there. But Jax is only one person. You must also kill his three children, and I'm still waiting on you to kill Albi and Faro. Faro is a vegetable now. His life has no purpose. All he does is drain resources. It is costing you a fortune to maintain his care."
"If you knew where Jax was, why didn't you tell me?" She sassed.
"Get it done, or I will find a worthy apprentice," he croaked as he disappeared into the smoke.
Wondering whether or not she wanted to be his apprentice, she delved into a book that had recently been released about magic to see if she could learn from books as opposed to the mysterious and demanding wizard. After reading the book from cover to cover, it was written as if the author had never even done magic. It was the most simple explanation of magic, and it was one of the few books about magic. She would need his help if she was going to become powerful.
