Quartz

After he finished painting in James's grimoire, Jace set it on a tree stump far out of reach of the tent—out of my reach.

Something has changed. Oh, I know, I should cast a spell that would alert the other Wanderers to my location whenever Jace is too far away to stop me.

Jace disappeared from sight. I am ready to send my signal up for all to see and for the Wanderers to interpret.

But a moment after the spell ended, Jace reappeared holding... oh. That could be problematic.

During the half second I lose my focus, I feel a sudden urge to begin bashing my manacles against something—anything—until I can wrench them off. However, no one in their right mind would risk injuring themself to the point of mutilation in order to simply remove some inconvenient cuffs, so I quickly regain focus and dismiss the notion.

When the others arrive they will aquire the grimoire, after all. There is no need to rush things, yes?

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North: "Did ya see that?"

Alex: "See what?"

North: "The pink dot up in the sky over there! It only appeared for a moment."

Hazel: "I saw it too, so don't think too highly of yourself."

North: "It kinda reminds me of her name, yeah?"

Alex: "Go on? You need to get better at conveying your thoughts to others, North."

North: "Pink like rose quartz and Quartz Rose likes pink! Kinda funny, yeah?"

Hazel: "Quartz could have cast that spell. Maybe it's a signal?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Alex: "Regardless, as it is the only lead we have at the moment, we might as well check it out. If the flash of light came from the rough direction you are pointing, it probably originated from the villages around Mount Ire. Considering that one time that we found Jace—after he went missing on that dragon subjugation quest—at the bottom of Mount Ire with the dragon's mana crystal in his hand and fresh trauma in his eyes, it is conceivable that he may have gone there for reasons we would not know of. If only he was not so secretive, we would have an easier time tracking him down..."

Hazel: "Alright, it's decided! We'll head over to wherever that suspicious pink glow came from!"

North (looking down with the sun at his back): "OK, I'll be followin' ya until I get what I'm chasin'!"

Due to exhaustion, Hazel is being carried by North. Hazel excuses her decision by claiming that carrying her was the only way North could contribute to the group. Were Jace and I really the only ones who—hey, what's with the death stare? Hazel, I haven't even said anything yet, so why are you already so defensive? Hmmm? That's what I thought. Ah, right, so while the trio set off towards the source of the pink light, they continue to converse.

Alex: "Still, Hazel, your manipulation of wind via magic is impressive as always. To think you managed to get us to Barracoon faster than any ship could without running out of magic power... you truly make up for North's magic ineptitude. It is unfortunate that we had to leave our mounts back on Yore, but the trade-off should be worthwhile so long as we are able to catch Jace off guard."

Hazel: "Even with my mastery of the art and the teachings of my ancestors, I still barely had enough stamina to keep the three of us at such a high speed. I had to keep us dangerously close to the water's surface to be able to avoid any potential collisons with birds, and even then I almost went head first into a flying fish as it jumped out of the water. That would've hurt—if it hit me, of course."

North: "I hit the bird; didn't I do good?"

Alex: "Speak like a Wanderer! The proper way to phrase your question would be didn't I do well, not didn't I do good! Wait, no, that is not even the worst of it! You called a flying fish a bird! You called... a FISH... A BIRD!!! To answer your question, hitting a small fish with Mors Vincit Omnia was definitely overkill and you got blood on all of our clothes. Please just try to be decent sometimes, okay?"

North: "I'll try, vice boss!"

Alex: "Stop calling me that!"

North: "Got it, Al!"

Alex: "A-L-E-X! My name is Alex!"

North: "Stop bein' such a buzzkill!"

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It would not be long before Jace would have to face his friends as foes for the first time.