Unknown Happen Stance

Chapter 53: Isn't Magic Forbidden In This World?

Chapter 53: Isn't Magic Forbidden In This World?

Evie and Musa left Ben with the Fa family combat training he enjoyed watching it more with Lonnie than her and Evie ever would. "You have arrived, ladies, Kimono Ming Gala Store." The carriage driver announced. "I'll pick you up in 4 hrs." The grand entrance of the gilded shop now looms before them, promising a retail experience that already feels heavy with unspoken possibilities, a stark contrast to the lighthearted combat training they just departed.

Four hours was a long time even for Musa to spend in a shop, but the atmosphere here instantly curdles any thought of leisurely browsing. Lights flash like lightning, not from camera bulbs or festive displays, but with an unnatural, pulsating rhythm that seems to sync with an eerie tune playing out in her ears, a song of barely perceptible discord. A shadow, more defined than any store fixture, creeps in front of her peripheral vision; instinctively, her hand reaches for the sword she brought with her, a silent testament to the gut feeling that screams danger within these opulent walls.

"Let's shop, Musa, we need to get you a better uniform for school. It's too bright, these colors just aren't you, nor do they properly represent your heritage," Evie tells Musa, her blue-haired friend with her stark black undertones, her voice a practical, almost jarring counterpoint to the growing unease. Musa, her focus fractured, forces a nod. "Right, so sorry, back to business," she murmurs, attempting to re-center herself, but the strange tremors in the air refuse to be ignored.

A chill, not of temperature but of sheer, unadulterated essence, flittered and fluttered through the stale air, remaining as if it had entered with them from the carriage itself, a parasitic passenger. Musa questions herself silently, her thoughts a frantic whisper: Isn't magic illegal here? So why am I feeling a strange essence in the air here? The question hangs, a heavy, unspoken accusation in the charged atmosphere, demanding an answer that the shimmering silks and polished wood cannot provide.

Then, a visual anomaly pierces through the swirling current of her perception: orange and black stripes caught her attention, glowing with a soft, yet insistent, bright purple aura. The fabric hangs on the edge of a boutique mirror, an almost taunting lure. Musa, drawn by an irresistible force, walks closer, the edges of the scene turning red in her vision—not in reality, she knows, but a psychic tint. She moves the cloth away, revealing a table chest, its surface polished to a dark sheen.

Upon the chest rests an orange and black striped painted fan, its handle holder crafted into a tiger's metal head at its back end, eyes that seem to follow her every movement. Beneath the fan, a tiger-striped patterned eye mask sits, its empty eyeholes conveying a chilling vigilance. But what truly arrests her gaze are the deep, undeniable claw marks, clearly from tiger claws, left brutally embedded in the expensive mahogany wood, a testament to raw power and violent intent. Musa turns away sharply, a prickle of dread tracing her spine, convinced that something besides the mirror was watching her, something ancient and predatory.
Evie, observing Musa's sudden recoil, offers a nonchalant observation, her voice devoid of the dread Musa feels. "Oo. Minglania must have some Evil Spirit Huntress witch of some sort. It would make sense for her to leave her stuff in such private quarters." Her words hang in the air, a casual confirmation of the magic Musa just sensed, adding a layer of foreboding to the huntress's implied presence and the sinister artifacts that now seem to pulse with a subtle malevolence.

Musa, still reeling from the discovery, presses Evie for clarity, the tension in her voice palpable, a tremor of unease vibrating through her. "Ben told me magic is illegal in the United States of Auradon thanks to his Father's rules before." The unspoken question lingered: why, then, was magic so obviously at play here, and what did that mean for their precarious mission?