After Italia stormed off to decimate the remainder of Kaiser Roboto’s militia, the four of us hastily made our way back to the waterfall where the entrance to the well was. We used that bus that brought us to the arena to get there. It was slow, but so would Alabaster be with his gunshot wounds.

We drove straight there, hoping that we would get ahead of him. But as we got there it was starting to set in that he likely had beaten us. I had Arduwan stand at the ready just in case he hadn’t arrived yet while I checked the well portal area. Sure enough, there was the stone. It had turned green again, so we know he had left the world.

Rather than waste time in Brasshaven anymore, we traveled back to my Mansion. Ever so cautiously, we emerged from the well. No telling if Alabaster was planning to try and ambush us. Though, with his wounds, I doubted he would do that.

The first thing we noticed was that he had created a diversion. He had tossed all seven stones into the well after arriving to mask his movements. Did he go into one of the worlds? Or was he out here in my world? Arduwan and Wraith secured the basement staircase while Emily and I examined the stones.

Six of the stones were green now, leaving only the Callist stone slowly flashing red. So we could rule out that he went to any world other than that one. And boy, would he be in for a surprise if did! Still, if he had gone there and survived the dangers, it was extremely troubling that he could ally himself with the Devil King of Callist next.

Alternatively, he could be in this world. He could be hiding out right here in my house. Or maybe he slipped out the back door and ran into the forest? If he was bold enough, he could’ve gone out the front door and tried to hitch a ride off the street.

I cast Perimeter Check, a spell that could detect movements within a hundred feet while concentrating on it before we made our way upstairs. I was fully recovered from earlier but I could only maintain a spell like that for five or ten minutes and couldn’t cast anything else while using it.

“Arduwan, check out back. Wraith, you go upstairs,” I said.

Emily stayed close behind me as we went to the front door after quickly checking the downstairs rooms. No sign of him anywhere. It was broad daylight and we couldn’t see him. My spell detected no movements on the property other than my friends. It looked as if Alabaster had gotten away this time.

* * *

Once we were sure he was gone, we could all finally take a breather and get our heart rates down. Things had been so tense for the past few days. We were tired, hungry, and mentally drained. Without Anabel here to cook we ordered some pizza. Three of them actually. One for me, Wraith, and Emily. And two for Arduwan.

“MMMM, yum! Berserker raging makes me hungry!” she said, as she ate her first slice.

We all sat around the dining room table, eating, and just absorbing all that had happened. It was so much more quiet around here without Anabel and Stephanie. We still hadn’t gotten used to Higgins being gone with this all happened.

“So when do you think you should go get Anabel?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know…with Alabaster on the loose, maybe it’s best to just leave her there.”

“Aww, but I miss Annie,” Arduwan expressed, “I miss her food and her cookies and the way she’s nice to me when I wanna watch cartoons or if I break something.”

“I know. I miss her too,” I concurred, “I miss Stephanie too.”

Wraith tried to console me, “Man, I know it's hard. We did our best. There’s not much you can do in the way of bringing someone back to life. Not without a powerful Cleric around. And I’m certain that finding one in Callist would make getting that Rod feel like getting milk from the fridge.”

“Yeah. If only there was a surefire way we knew how to find one, then we could concentrate on that being our next quest.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Arduwan let out a deep sigh and said, “I just wish there was a way my boobs could help this time.”

We all looked at her funnily.

“W-What?” I questioned.

“Well, last time we had trouble finding someone, my boobs helped us locate Celica,” she noted.

We were all really confused.

“Arduwan…what are you talking about?”

She finished off her current slice of pizza, stood up and replied, “The Oracle of Vale. He needed to feel up my boobs in order to see where we could find Celica, remember?”

Suddenly, I felt a whirlwind of memories rushing back to me. I hopped up from my chair and ran over to Arduwan. I put my hands on her shoulders and kissed her directly on the lips. “Arduwan! You’re a genius!” I praised her merrily.

She just smiled ear to ear and said, “What did I do?”

It was all coming back to me. I explained to everyone, “It’s the Forget spell that I cast on those agents! The repercussion was for me to forget about the Oracle of Vale! I couldn’t regain those memories until someone reminded me of them.”

“Right!” Emily interjected, “you said since you cast that spell on both of them that you would forget two really important things. That must be the first thing since you now remember!”

“Wait a minute,” said Wraith, “I’m just now recollecting those memories too and I wasn’t even here when he cast those spells.”

“Well…that’s because…,” I stammered, “I had already cast Forget before…on you

Wraith.”

“What? Why?!”

“It was right after we got you ready for the heist on that gold caravan! I needed to test the spell and I figured I’d test it on you to make you forget about the Oracle.”

“Why would I need to forget about the Oracle?!!!”

“Because I didn’t think it would do us much good to leave you in Callist, knowing that you could bring one of your harem chicks to allow that guy to feel up just so you could go off on some adventure that I might have to rescue you from if you used his visions for something crazy.”

“Why would I do that?!”

I gave him a look before Emily stated, “Hang on a second. If you used that spell before, then that means you actually have three important memories to be reminded of.”

“No…ehh, just one more.”

“Oh, you already have been reminded of the first forgotten memory?” she inquired.

“Yeah, actually. You see. The memory I lost from casting Forget on Wraith was…well…it was about having that conversation with you after Higgins funeral.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. When I came back from Callist the first time, I genuinely put it off because I was still processing things. But after that Dwarf mine raid, I got reminded we were supposed to talk and the memories flooded back and I got scared. So I put it off again.”

“Talk? Talk about what?” Wraith asked.

“”Don’t worry about it,”” we both said, in unison.

“Anyway,” I continued, “the way it works is the person Forget is cast on will forget any chosen memory. The caster then loses an equally important memory but can be reminded at any time. Though the target of the spell can only be reminded if the person they cast the spell on tells them. That’s why you didn’t remember the Oracle until I said something. So that means that there's one more memory I’ve lost and I just know it’s gonna bite me when it comes back around.”

There was a pause for a moment before Emily suggested, “Well now that you know you can find that Cleric using the Oracle’s vision, you should make a plan to go find him.”

“Emily, there’s no way we can take you to Callist. Look how bad things got in Brasshaven. I can assure you…Arduwan can assure you that it would be too dangerous for you to go to Callist.”

“Mhmm Mhmm,” she agreed as she grabbed another slice of pizza.

“Well that's okay. I wasn’t suggesting I go anyway.”

“But we can’t leave you alone here at the house, We’d be gone for days, maybe even weeks. What if Alabaster comes back? He’s probably already rallying a gang of goons as we speak.”

“I’ll be fine. Just give me your old pistol that D.A. Ralph gave you in Murk and we can set up some kind of security system here.”

She had a point. It was high time we modernized this Mansion. Every generation of Nobles had done something to upgrade it. My Great Uncle Cornelius upgraded the plumbing and the living spaces, and my father modernized the kitchen and the fitness room. I needed to make the perimeter of this place secure using technology. Starting tomorrow we'll have every corner of the property fitted with a surveillance system. I still didn’t feel good about leaving Emily here, but I knew what she was going to do. She was going to watch the net and search for any signs that Alabaster was surfacing.

“Okay. I’m with you. Once we get a system in place, Wraith, Arduwan, and I will go back to Callist to talk to the Oracle. We’ll find where the nearest Cleric is that might be powerful enough to help us revive Stephanie. But while we’re there we’ll ask him to tip us off as to when Alabaster makes his next move.”

“What do you think he’s gonna make Arduwan do?” Wraith asked.

“Who? The Oracle? Pshh. That greasy old guy probably just wants another feel,” I responded before turning my attention to Arduwan, “I really don’t like doing it, but are you okay with doing what you did last time?”

“You bet, Eric! If it means getting Stephanie back, then I’d even let the Devil King feel em!”

Keep in mind, this woman was still sitting there in a bra and panties while eating pizza.

Her body was like the furniture to us at this point.