“Are you sure?” Jorik asked.

Mahon and he were standing in front of the island depicted behind the Fada army. Contrary to the other personages, this painting was actually at their eyes height, and they could watch from really close.

“There is no mistake possible.” Mahon answered. “Although the city is gone, that island is Nightmare.” He pointed to the center of the island. “Here is the spawning point, and the last battle was around here.” He pointed to another area, much closer to the coast. “This is the place we usually meditate, but I used to push up to there. This is…”

Mahon continued for a couple minutes, listing all the places he knew by heart, each time pointing on the map without any hesitation.

“I’ve spent more than two decades in Nightmare. It’s not that large, and I was responsible for most of the recapture of the land. I drew the first maps of the place. I know it better like you do your own backyard. I’m a hundred percent certain that this is Nightmare.”

“But what does that mean…” Jorik said, a lost look in his eyes.

“Let’s ask, Siraye.” Mahon proposed. “She might know a bit more about the fresco.”

Without waiting for Jorik’s answer, he walked back to the benches facing the Great Fresco and quickly located Siraye. He then went straight to her.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” She commented once she saw him coming back.

“Very.” Mahon easily agreed. “Say, do you know what it represents exactly? I’ve many questions.”

Siraye hid a laugh behind her hand. “I knew you would act exactly like that. Unfortunately, many experts have spent decades researching it, but even they aren’t sure of anything. Most paintings are still heavily debated among mathemagicians as of today. They only agree on a few topics. But ask anyway, I might know.”

“What’s the island behind the Fada?” He asked without wasting any more time.

“Oh, this I actually know. It’s Ratho, the legendary city of the Fada.”

“Ratho?” He was taken aback by her answer. There were too many troubling coincidences and yet too many discrepancies as well. Where do we exactly come from?

“I only know this, sorry.” Siraye smiled.

Dropping the subject, he switched to his other questions. “Do you know anything about the earrings?”

“The earrings? No. I think I didn’t even notice there were earrings. What’s wrong with them?”

Mahon waved his hand to indicate it wasn’t important. “And the beds?”

She shook her head in answer. “One of the Fada’s lullabies, maybe? To be honest, there are very few things I know. You’ll be better off asking a mathemagician about all this. Even though they don’t all agree, if you’re really interested you can at least learn about their different opinions.”

“Do you know where I can find one?” He asked.

Siraye shrugged. “One can’t really find a mathemagician. It’s the mathemagician who finds you. I don’t know about Stonewell, but it’s not uncommon to meet one in Lakefield. If you wait long enough in certain areas.”

Mahon sighed at the woman’s answer. His thirst for knowledge had only grown larger since the beginning of the night. Although he had more clues, he had no concrete answer and even more questions than before. He needed to discuss all this with Jorik in Nightmare, where no one would be able to disturb or hear them.

He communicated his need to go back to the camp to Siraye, and the woman wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Although it wasn’t late, the night had been rich of events, and she was getting tired too. She led them back to camp, wished them a goodnight and moved to her tent.

Mahon and Jorik also went to their respective tent without wasting time. Except they didn’t stay alone for long as they reunited a few minutes later in Nightmare. For the first time since long, Mahon was sad the dreamy land was so empty. He would have loved to talk about someone still in Ratho. They had so much to share about their discoveries, so many things that challenged their beliefs. He couldn’t keep it all to himself.

Fortunately, Jorik was here with him, and even though the noble was stuck in Finem too, Mahon at least had someone to discuss with. He led them to their usual resting spot, and the two men sat in front of each other, cross-legged.

“Let’s not get too excited about everything.” Mahon started. “We have a lot to compile and discuss. I suggest we use the ancient way.”

“The Colors?” Jorik asked.

“Yes.” Mahon nodded.

“I’m not very used to it, but it indeed feels right to use it now. It’s up to you.”

“I’ll lead then.” Mahon said. “We start with Blue. Order. What are the questions we want answered?”

“What are we looking for?” Jorik started after a second of silence. “What is Finem? Where are we?”

“Who are we?” Mahon chimed in naturally.

“Who are we.” Jorik nodded. “And what are our plans?”

“Good. Now, Red. Feelings. We share how we feel about it.”

“You start.”

“I’m very eager to know. To unravel the mystery about Ratho, the Amentiae, the Fada. About us. At the same time, I’m afraid about what we’ll discover. What it will entail.”

After some time Jorik spoke too. “I want to find a way to free Ratho. I’m very curious about what this is all about, but a part of me doesn’t want to lose my objective. Ratho matters first.”

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The conversation continued to flow with ease. “White. Facts.”

“We live millennia whereas humans in Finem live up to a century.”

“We think we live millennia.” Mahon corrected. “The only thing we know for sure is that you’re at least fifty years old, in a body that looks twenty to the locals.”

“Does it really matter?”

“Yeah. White is all about facts. No interpretation. No supposition. Only facts. We only state what we truly know.”

“But we know nothing then.”

“That’s not true. We discovered a lot. We know that people in Finem never lived past a century, according to Siraye. We also know that they rely heavily on their emotions. We witnessed it ourselves, but the Fada did too. Humans are depicted in Red, the Color of emotions, and plenty of emotional faces have been painted on the Great Fresco as if it was something important.”

“So what? Humans are emotional?”

“We only list for now. We draw conclusions later. As futile as it may seem, everything can be an important clue later on.”

“Ok, ok, sorry. Let’s continue then.” Jorik apologized. “We know that people consider Ratho as the legendary city of the Fada because of the Great Fresco. But to us, that island depicts Nightmare. We also lived in a place that was called Ratho, and we were capable of transporting to Nightmare because of the Amentiae.”

“Agreed. There is also Hylde’s journal. The journal I told you about, that appeared at the birth of the Fada cult. A personage, probably Hylde, was depicted on the Great Fresco holding that same journal. There were pictures of beds on the Great Fresco, and it was also mentioned in Hylde’s journal how strange the Fada found that humans needed to sleep.”

“People in Finem are also capable of wielding a magic that was unknown to us, and yet they don’t know anything about Earth magic. Earth magic tents were depicted in the Great Fresco on the Fada side. Fire magic was depicted in the human side.”

“Ok I think we’ve summarized the most important things. Let’s move to Green. Ideas.”

“What if we’re not humans?”

“What if the Amentiae were the Fada?”

“What if we were the Fada?”

A short silence passed, but these questions were already too much for them, they didn’t dare to ask another one. Hence, Mahon pursued their brainstorming.

“Yellow. Positives.”

“Do we take each question one after the other or…?”

“Yeah, that’s usually how I proceed. Why would we not be humans?”

“We’re very different from the humans in Finem, in that we aren’t so emotionally reliant and we seem to live longer. It’s not just a local thing at this point. We’re truly different.”

“Why would the Amentiae and the Fada be the same?”

“There is no mention of Amentiae in Finem, and yet Nightmare is depicted as the Fada’s homeland. Fada use Earth magic and Amentiae too. In the Great Fresco, Fada are depicted in blue, the color of order. Who is more dependent on order and hierarchy than the Amentiae who fight in formation and grow stronger when they are led by a powerful general?”

“Why would we be Fada?”

“We lived in Ratho. We can go to Nightmare. We can use earth magic, and although we use all the Colors, we mainly rely on Blue to guide us.”

“Black. Negatives.”

“We look like humans. We sleep like humans. We fight like humans. Why wouldn’t we be humans?”

“The Amentiae are giant insects whereas the Fada are depicted as human persons. In our legends, they are two very distinct entities.”

“We sleep like humans, and yet Fada were so puzzled by it, they documented it in their Great Fresco. Fada were mythical creatures that solved humanity’s problem. We would be very pale versions of them if we were Fada.”

“White.”

“We’re as far as the Fada that we are from the humans. We don’t know enough to conclude anything but that we’re different.”

“And about Amentiae?”

“We can’t conclude either. It’s a possibility we have to keep in mind, but nothing could be less certain.”

Mahon acquiesced slowly. “Red.”

“Red?”

“How do you feel about all this?”

“It helps to sort out the situation, but honestly, we haven’t reached any conclusion. I feel better, though. Less lost. I know what to look for if I want a complete answer, but I’m afraid we will not find it easily.”

“I share these feelings. It cleared my mind. There is still a long way forward, but we already made the first step. I feel confident that one day we’ll know.”

“Blue then?”

“Yeah. Blue.”

“We should get more information. About our real age. About Nightmare and Ratho’s origin. About the Colors. About magic.”

“Back to green, then. How do we get information about our real age? About Nightmare and Ratho’s origin? About the Colors? About magic?”

“For our real age, I’m afraid we can only know if we’re back in Ratho.”

“Not necessarily. We didn’t pop in Ratho just like that, trapped by the Amentiae. We must have come from somewhere. And that somewhere is probably Finem or the other kingdoms. Even if it’s not common knowledge today, there must be historical records of people living as long as we do.”

“But what if it was so long ago that nothing exists anymore? We would never be sure if it’s not true or if we haven't found it yet.”

“That’s a Black thought. On the Yellow side, if we find something, we’ll know more about us. It might be worth the shot.”

“So to a library?”

“That could be a good start.” Mahon agreed. “What about Nightmare and Ratho’s origin?”

“A library could be a good place too. But I think regarding this subject, mathemagicians are what we need.”

“Agreed. It’s like the library. Worst-case scenario they aren’t helpful. Best case, they give us a great lead. We’ve nothing to lose.”

“It’s probably the same with the Colors. Blue and Red were depicted with so much evidence in the Great Fresco that there must be something to it either. I’m not sure it’s worth as much effort as the other topics though.”

“Hmm…” Mahon nodded. “I think they’re linked to the Fada in some way, and they would help us understand them better, but I think you’re right. We’ve more than enough on our arms right now. We’ll see if they reappear on their own. What about magic?”

“Lakefield and its hidden experts is probably the best place to start investigating it. Maybe we would have to go even further. Maybe other kingdoms have other kinds of magic. There is also the Ill Immortals. More dangerous, but they might also hold a lot of answers to our questions. Especially if the rumors are true, and they were indeed funded by the Fada. They might have secrets nobody knows about.”

“Sounds like we have a plan, then. Library. Mathemagicians. Lakefield. Ill Immortals. What about freeing Ratho? Is it still your primary objective?”

“I’m not sure. Given it’s already almost impossible to go back, I’d say it’s not my main priority right now. But in the long term it still is.”

“And what about the short term?”

“All this. Solving these mysteries. Everything that we learnt, I didn’t think it would, but it still impacted me. Deeply. And I think without knowing oneself first, it’s difficult to know where you have to go. I think without knowing who we are we can’t move forward.”

“I think who we are depends on us only. We should just continue to do what feels right.”