Nearly a week has passed since the clash with Morgan’s forces. Confronted by Morgan’s Queen, Sebastian Glyn and the others were cornered and almost beaten. In a last-ditch move, Glyn attempted to activate the remains of a teleport stone, but it ended up going off, responding to a burst of Mila’s power. In the aftermath of the battle, an explosion went off that sent Glyn and his Pieces were forcibly scattered across the islands in Morgan’s territory.

For their part, Miller and the Pawns chased after their allies as they rush towards enemy territory. Clinging to the Piece embedded into his very being, Miller holds onto the hope of Glyn’s and the other's survival. Another force also drove him, rage, rage at the betrayal of Xia Bai that got them into this situation to begin with.

“Miller.” Sam walks up to Miller as the pair stand on the deck of their ship. “We should be close to where Glyn and the others were last spotted.”

Miller nods. “Good, we need to search for clues as fast as possible.”

“Are you sure this is the right island?”

“It’s where Glyn landed during our chase. It seems there’s more to the island than we thought.”

“What?”

“While we were on board, he was mapping something. He only told, but he seemed to think something important was out here. If we can find it, then maybe we can find him. If we have Glyn, then we can use his King Piece to track the others.”

“That’s a good idea. But what even is this island?”

“It seems to be uninhabited. And I was too distracted to sense anything unusual about the island itself. But if Glyn thought it was important, then we should search the island for what he deemed important.”

“But we don’t have any clues.”

“I might.” Otso walks up to the pair carrying a series of papers. “I was attempting to read Glyn’s random notes. It’s like it’s written in an annoying code, so it's hard to read, but I’m figuring it out.”

“Thanks, Otso.”

“Welcome. But I don’t think this will help much. We’re better off trying to search the islands rather than going to this random island.”

Miller nods. “You may be right. But we stand no chance of fighting Morgan’s forces at this point. We need to move carefully and swiftly to avoid drawing their attention.”

“Are they that strong?” Sam asks.

Stolen story; please report.

“Dangerously strong. And insane.” Otso says.

Miller pauses. “There’s something strange about them. Something was crawling under their skin, controlling them. I’m afraid to think what would happen if there were more of those things around if they managed to get ahold of one of us.”

“I know you're worried about Mila. But don’t let it distract you, Boss.” Otso says.

“With Glyn gone, you're our leader again, the one who should have a plan. So, we’re relying on you from here on out to solve this mess.”

Miller stares off into the distance. “I know. I won’t let myself be distracted with worry. I have to save everyone, no matter what.”

“Make sure that no matter what, doesn’t involve us sacrificing each other or ourselves,” Osto says.

“That’s in the plan. We’re all going back home, no matter what.”

Sam grabs Miller’s hand. “Listen, it's not all on you. We are a team, remember that.”

“I know. I can count on you. On all of you.”

“Hey guys!” Tan flies down from above, landing next to the three. “The island is close and Rufus was saying he’s sensing all kinds of weird stuff.”

Miller nods. “Alright.”

The group goes down to the cabins of the ship where Rufus holds out his staff. Everyone stares at him as the tip of his staff glows with a pale blue light. He then collapses, exhausted, as he falls into Fiona’s arms.

“You good?”

“Fine. The Mana around here is all kinds of messed up, though, and well, it made me sick.” Rufus says.

“Are you sure it’s not the seasickness?”

He shakes his head. “No. I’ve been practicing with Pepper to improve my ability to sense magical energy. If I can detect the flow of magic, I can tell when and where someone would be using magic.”

“So how does that make you sick?” Otso asks.

“Well… it’s that it feels like someone took a giant chunk of Mana and compressed it to fit into a normal space. The Mana around here is three times as thick as it should be normally.”

“Really now?” Miller asks.

“Do you think Glyn was looking into that?” Sam asks.

“How? He only had a rough map. Even his notes seem like random guesses while trying to pinpoint something,” Miller says.

“Either way, this could be important. But as for you, Rufus, will you be able to function under this pressure?”

“I just have to adjust. It takes a while. But I’ll be fine.” Rufus says.

“Hey kids, we’re about to make landfall. If you're going to go look at that strange island, you better do it now before sundown!” The Captain yells out from above.

Miller nods. “You heard the man. Everyone has to be ready for anything. Also, be careful those crazy guys could’ve left behind anything on the island for us. I’m sure Glyn and the others got away; we just have to find any trace of them.”

“Right.” Everyone says at once.

“Let’s start by going to the last place we were before Xia Bai destroyed our teleport stone,” Sam says.

Otso sighs. “I can find the spot. No idea if there’ll be anything there. Hopefully, we won’t be walking into a trap.”

“Be ready for anything.” Miller climbs up towards the exit. “We’re dealing with dangerous foes and we’re missing our strongest fighters. If we fall here, it’s the end of everything. Understand?”

“We got it. This is a very important and stressful issue.” Faye says.

Ivar smirks. “Well, if it's this important, then we better make sure we do things right.”

Tan nods excitedly. “Yeah, I’ll search the island from above. I can spot Zanrit from a mile away.”

“Of course you can.”

Rufus stands. “Maybe I can sense their mana if I can adjust to this environment.”

“Try not to puke,” Fiona says.

Sam nods. “We got this Miller.”

Miller smiles. “Okay, let’s go.”