A few weeks passed and Taeyeon was surprised with the lack of Wyvern appearances in the city. She expected by now that they would be really pissed and send their strongest to eliminate her, but there was no sign of them. Of course, regular crime was still abundant on the streets of New York, but Vermilion had no problem cleaning them up. The hope of the public was growing between each heroic act she performed. There were still a handful of people, particularly in the police force, that saw her as a dangerous liability. This was a fair assessment since, in the wrong hands, magic was a dangerous threat, but Taeyeon would never turn her back on the citizens of New York. The lack of Wyvern attacks hadn’t stopped Taeyeon for striving for new strength, but for some reason no matter how hard she tried, no matter how seriously she battled against her cloned self, she couldn’t defeat her.

Taeyeon had asked Sunny countless times to form a mental connection between the stone and Taeyeon, which would allow her to fight her clone, but every single time she fought her, it resulted in defeat. This was a huge burden for Tae since defeating Vermilion was currently the only way to advance her magic strength. There were plenty of times where Taeyeon could see victory and was certain she would overcome Vermilion in combat, sadly though she never did. Taeyeon has even focused on strengthening her actual physical abilities like speed and power to assist her in beating Vermilion. She had gotten significantly faster than she was before and still Vermilion would best her as if Vermilion was also getting stronger. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong Sunny. You’ve seen all my fights with her and in each one, I’m fighting as if my life is on the line. Nothing is working against her, I just don’t understand.” Taeyeon said with frustration.

“In all honesty Tae, I agree with you. She’s like an impossible boss in a video game.” Sunny said.

“There are no impossible bosses Sunny. In video games, if there’s a boss that’s really hard to defeat, it usually means there’s a secret strategy or mechanic to use to win. But there is no secret strategy for Vermilion, she simply doesn’t lose.” Taeyeon sighed.

“Maybe she’s lying?” Sunny suggested.

“Lying about?”

“Like, she’s lying about the power that you’ll get if you beat her. Maybe she’s impossible to beat because you’re not supposed to beat her in combat?”

“What am I supposed to do then? Persuade her to open the door for me? Seduce her with my charms? I tried that already and nothing.” Taeyeon laughed.

“Hmm, I’m out of ideas Tae, let’s just forget it for now. I mean there hasn’t been a Wyvern attack in a while, maybe they’ve given up?” Sunny suggested.

“I hope you’re right Sunny, but I doubt it. My gut feeling tells me they’ll strike soon, that’s why I’ve still been trying to increase my power so tirelessly.” Taeyeon reasoned.

“Well at the moment we have no plans so how about we just relax for a bit? Talk about something other than your magic powers maybe?” Sunny hinted.

For a while, the conversations Taeyeon has had with her best friend had been focused on the magic side of Tae’s life. She was glad that Sunny was always there to back her up and encourage her when it came to her powers, but she did miss her regular conversations with the girl. “You’re right Sunny, how’s things? How’s Yuri?”

“She’s great, she’s actually improved on her Chemistry stuff a lot so we think she’ll pass her upcoming exam. More importantly thought Tae, how’s Tiff? Has her ‘other side’ come back?” Sunny asked with concern.

“Not that I’ve seen. Everything has been great and we’re celebrating our two month anniversary tonight.” Taeyeon said with a huge smile.

“Tonight? Do you guys have reservations or something?”

“Umm, I’m going to spend the night at her house…” Taeyeon said embarrassingly.

“YAH! You girls are still young, you shouldn’t be…”

“Hey, I’m older than you remember? And didn’t you let Yuri sleep over your house?” Taeyeon retorted.

“Well… that’s true, but we didn’t do anything honestly!” Sunny said with her hands up.

“Sure… anyways we won’t be doing anything weird Sunny, we’ll just be hanging out and probably watch some movies. She keeps asking to have a marvel movie marathon.”

“Omo Tae can I come please??” Sunny begged with her knees on the floor.

“Sorry, if it was any other day I’d ask you and Yuri to come over, but since I and Tiffany are celebrating, kinda want to keep it just us,” Taeyeon said patting her best friend’s back.

Taeyeon wasn’t the only one who was striving for greater strength in the past few weeks. Tiffany had also been practicing her magical abilities, in secret of course, since she believed the others would worry for her if they found out about it. She still struggled with maintaining conjurations for long periods of time, but unlike most conjurers, she focused mainly on summoning creatures. She often summoned a black dog to keep her company in the lonely house and for the most part, it helped significantly. Every so often, she would still hear the serpent like voice calling to her, asking her to unleash her dark side once more, but there was one person that would always guard her thoughts, Taeyeon. Whenever Tiffany could feel the darkness growing and capturing her mind, she would start thinking of TaeTae and the darkness would be wiped from her mind. Taeyeon was her major anchor and without her, Tiffany would be lost in the dark.

Tiffany was currently preparing for Taeyeon’s visit later that night. She on the coffee table she displayed a bunch of movie snacks like popcorn, M&M’s and potato chips. For the couch, she layered multiple blankets and covers so they wouldn’t feel cold night breeze. As she was setting up the couch, she had to prevent naughty thoughts from appearing in her mind. “Hey Fany, I lost some popcorn under the sheets, mind if I look for it?” Taeyeon said with a soft voice.

“Ugh sure.”

“Oh, TaeTae…” Tiffany fantasized.

“Dammit Tiffany, get a hold of yourself. This is Taeyeon’s first relationship, she doesn’t want it to escalate that quickly. Just chill.” Tiffany reasoned with herself.

“Bark! Bark!” Tiffany turned around to see her small black conjured puppy hopping up onto the couch, messing up the sheets like a crazy puppy.
“Yah! Don’t do that, off the couch!” The puppy followed her orders.

“Come on, get back into the stone.