“Here comes another one! Stella, take that one! Kid, watch how she does it!” Luca yelled.

Urie's act of burning down the earlier Nifyr acted as a beacon, attracting more of them to their location. Luca and Simone were currently holding off three of them while Stella unsheathed her blade to confront the fourth that had appeared.

“Little Urie, this is how those of us that can't do what you did earlier handle the Nifyr!” She stated.

Stella gathered mana around her and her hands started to glow red. As she channeled it into her arms, the red hue around her began to transfer to her weapon and started to coat its blade.

The fourth Nifyr that had emerged laid its eyes on Stella's figure and ran towards her. Before it could lay its hands, She dodged to its right side and swung her glowing blade down on the monster's arms. Its hands fell down and hit the ground without a sound, separated from its body.

Stella continued to do the same thing as the Nifyr struggled to land a blow on her, its left leg, right, and finally its head. The parts that fell on the ground were still moving, but they didn't have the ability to come back together.

Stella pinched her fingers together in the same way Luca had done. She formed a ball of fire and threw it at the dismembered Nifyr.

“Physical attacks don't work on the Nifyr but if you use a weapon coated with your mana, it'll slice through them easily.” Leaving the slowly burning pieces of the Nifyr behind, she returned to the boy that was watching with sparkling eyes.

”How was that? Do you want to try it? “ She asked, and brought the weapon she was holding in front of Urie, offering him a chance to use it. “It's called a katana, a bit different from a normal sword.”

With much enthusiasm, He received the weapon from her hands and tried to wield it.

“Now, try and imitate what I just did. That way of using mana conserves your energy and won't tire you out as much. “ Stella explained.

Holding the grip of the weapon with two hands, Urie felt the weight of it tipping from its handle towards the end of the blade.

“Aunt Stella—“

“—Ma—ma.” Stella interrupted and put intonation into the two syllables she spoke.

“Ma...ma Stella—” He felt a bit strained when calling her that, not knowing why.

“—It's too heavy.” Urie couldn't lift the blade, the tip of the weapon barely coming off the ground.

“You don't have to wave it around. I have a smaller one in storage but for now, we'll practice with this one.” Stella came closer and hovered her hand over Urie's.

“Now, gather mana into your arms and channel it through your fingers towards the blade.”

He did as she instructed and allowed the mana to flow through his mana roots and towards the katana but instead of simply glowing red like what Stella had demonstrated, thin flames formed around the katana and covered the blade.

“That is one way of doing it, I guess. At least this won't drain you as fast as when you use pure fire to bring down the Nifyr. That might work when dealing with one or a whole pack at once, but if they come at you one by one, you're done for.”

“This skill might also be useful when fighting against mana beasts.” Urie thought.

He remembered how exhausted he was after dealing with one shadow wolf back at Erden's Tower. If the other wolves managed to get to them, he wouldn't have been able to fight back.

“Although this is easy to learn, since you're using a weapon, you will also have to build up enough skill to use it with efficiency.”

Mumbling the latter half of his sentence, Urie said, “They were going to teach us swordsmanship at the academy this year but... I wonder if I'll be able to get back.”

He was worried. They still had no idea of how to return him to the other side.

Noticing that he was getting discouraged, Stella gave him a cheerful smile and said, “Little Urie, I'll be with you to teach you swordsmanship. You don't have to worry about that while you're here.”

“Alright, aunt—ma Stella.” Urie replied and continued to practice while Stella watched.

A few minutes later, Luca and Simone returned after dealing with the Nifyr.

Clang! Urie dropped the katana and fell to the ground on his butt. He was sweating and panting, tired from the exertion of mana.

“I think that's enough for a morning exercise, don't you think?” Simone smiled.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“We should get back inside, the kid looks like he needs to take a breather.”

Clip-clop Clip-clop

Luca looked to the side, drawn to the sound of horses' hooves.

From one side of the road, a carriage arrived and stopped in front of them. A man with long pointed ears, pale skin, and light brown hair opened the door and exited.

“Why are you here!?”Stella exclaimed.

Her expression was looking as ferocious as that of the shadow wolf Urie had faced before.

“—Ah.” Simone uttered a reaction.

Luca hurriedly used his hands to cover his mouth but was still caught as Stella turned around and shot them a glare.

“You knew he was coming?” She snapped.

“Simone, Stella.” The man spoke and approached. He walked past Stella and the others and bent down to observe Urie.

“So this is the boy...I thought you were talking about a child from the area, I didn't know you meant a child from the other side of the city.” He said.

Stella was about to get Luca and Simone to drive the man away but stopped.

“Other side? How did you know?”

He could tell that Urie wasn't from this side? She thought. Stella only found out about Urie's origins after asking him about it in this morning's conversation.

“Your question would be better answered when we're inside. Since out here, we might get a lot of unwanted interruptions.” The man gestured towards the outlines of the buildings and asked them to lead the way into the house.

Clenching her fists to calm her anger, Stella reluctantly agreed. She was curious about what this old man knew. They all entered the house and returned to the dining room, as it was the easiest place to have a conversation.

“Judging by the color of your hair, young man, I presume that you are a child of the Loeth House?”

After they had taken their seats, the long-eared man asked Urie a question.

“Yes sir, you know of them?” Urie was surprised. Stella and the others didn't ask about the color of his hair so he didn't expect the first question of the man to be about his family.

“Child, call me Ashur.” He insisted.

The man was Ashur, the elf with the highest authority within the Elder Council. Luca and Simone were supposed to inform Stella of his intention to visit but the thought slipped their minds.

“I know of them, yes. As well as the Vinney, and Perid. Along with the Varethe, they were the pillars of the city of Daerin, before... no, nevermind. We can talk about that later, how did you come to be here, child?”

“About that,” Luca entered the conversation and reported the situation, Urie's predicament, and the discussion with Volcanus, the fire spirit. Urie spoke up a few times and added in any details Luca had missed.

“The kid will be staying with us until we find a way to bring him back. Maybe find a way to bring Celeste back as well.” Luca said.

“Child, how are things on the other side? Do you have an idea?” Ashur asked another question.

“The city is fine if that's what you mean, sir Ashur. If you're talking about the wall, then, mana beasts seem to have started attacking again.” Urie replied.

“Mana beasts? Not magic creatures?” Ashur had never heard of mana beasts.

“The mana beasts are magic creatures but are more dangerous than the usual kind. You can tell them apart if you look at their eyes. They glow kind of like the Nifyr's eyes.” Urie made a circling gesture around his pupils with his hands.

“Abnormalities are happening even on your side...” Ashur paused.

“You know something, old man?” Stella noticed that Ashur seemed to be ruminating about something.

Hearing his daughter call him such, Ashur furrowed his brows but didn't reproach her.

“I may know of a way to send him back, but... I don't think the fire spirit would approve.” He said.

“It doesn't hurt to just tell us, right?” Simone spoke.

“Alright, but do not speak of the matter outside of this house. They pertain to some of the more sensitive topics council keeps under wraps.”

“Oh? The high elder leaking secrets of the council?” Stella chuckled as she said sarcastically.

“It's not a secret kept in strict confidentiality but a matter that we've kept quiet with to avoid unrest among the city's populace.”

What could it be? They wondered. Unrest? Would it affect the whole city?

“We have to temporarily restore the link between the tower on their side to the tower on ours.” Ashur declared.

“Link? Do you mean Volcanus' connection? Why would that cause unrest?” Urie and the others showed puzzled expressions.

“No, I don't mean restoring the fire spirit's connection. I meant restoring the Tower's connection.”

Their faces indicated that they still didn't understand what Ashur was trying to imply. Ashur tapped his fingers on the table and contemplated. He decided that it might be better to fill them in with the information that the council was withholding before continuing with the conversation.

“The city of Daerin, the one on the boy's side as well as on ours, they were both parts of a single city at one point in time,” Ashur spoke with a serious tone. Nobody interrupted, they were waiting for him to continue.

“Our half of the city was sealed in a space inside of Erden's Tower. If we can just loosen the seal, that will allow this little one to return.”

“I feel like you're skipping a lot of the details father.” Simone felt skeptical.

Both sides of Daerin were originally one city? The city they lived in was already like this when they were born, that would mean that this was from a time long before they were born.

“Why was our city sealed? How?” Luca asked.

Stella and Urie were silent, but they were paying close attention.

“Well... It wasn't the city that was supposed to be sealed...”

Ashur chewed on his lips. He didn't know if he was allowed to disclose it.

[It was the city that was sealed along with me.]

A deep and husky voice echoed inside of their heads and entered the conversation, answering for the hesitant Ashur.