“It can’t be this moon!” Dallion said, once the initial shock had gone. “People would have noticed six more planets floating about.”

Or would they? Dallion remembered watching astronaut interviews as a child. One of the things that the people who’d been in space said was that it changed their perspective. It would be within Astreza’s power to place a limiting echo in every person born, preventing them from seeing any of the other Moons. If that were the case, though, it meant that humanity could realistically reach other inhabitable worlds at will.

“And I had hoped you’d be smarter than an ant,” the girl sighed, disappointment emanating from her. “You’re still looking at the obvious. If there were seven planets around the Moon, it would hardly remain a moon. What it did was to place itself in seven realities at the same time. In each reality there’s a planet—a different planet—with a different race on it. Dwarves, humans, furies, gorgons, and all the rest also have a moon in the sky—a single Moon. That’s how each of them can send people from themselves to the awakened world.”

Dallion kept on staring. Useless trivia popped up in his mind—random memories from his childhood days when he was interested in space.

By the Star’s logic the fallen south was in effect the Aitken basin—an immense impact crater on the far side of the Moon. Supposedly it was one of the largest impact craters in the solar system, and now Dallion knew why. By the same principle, the forbidden north had to be the moon’s north pole.

“What exactly did you do to find out?” Dallion asked.

“I guess I spoke too soon,” the girl’s attitude changed. “You are asking the right questions. Tell me, once you enter a realm, what’s the only way to see the real form of the object you’re in?”

“You leave the realm.”

“And how do you do that?”

“You just…” Dallion stopped. There were three ways he knew of: will himself out—using the guard skill ability when necessary— dying, or getting ejected by the owner of the realm. “Death, ejection, and doing it yourself.”

“In terms of the world, death and ejection are the same thing. Doing it yourself works, but there are serious restrictions. There’s one other way, though. You can go beyond the limits of the realm.”

Of course. The realms didn’t have limits—upon approaching them, the realm pushed people back, preventing them from ever getting there. Magic put an end to that, though. Thanks to it, a person could actually reach the limits of a realm; and with the correct spell—go beyond them. Dallion had done the same during his Academy trial when he and his classmates had traveled through various realms with the goal of obtaining Galatea’s Moonstone.

“You went through the aether bubble,” Dallion said. Just like Adzorg’s device did, he added mentally.

“The shield that keeps the void at bay. It was said to be impossible, but as long as you can control both magic and void matter, it’s surprisingly easy. Of course, by easy, I mean for me. It took me a while, but I was able to peek beyond the veil and found that I didn’t need the Moons to get to Earth. No one did. I could have connected all seven worlds and brought in an age that the universe had never seen.”

“And that’s when they stopped you.”

“It was more a warning than anything else. Even they know that’s what should happen. They just thought I was going too fast.” She shrugged. “I guess they want it to occur the “natural” way with hundreds of Architects doing their part. Or not. You can never tell what the Moons are thinking.”

“Is that how I get back?” Dallion asked, surprised at the eagerness of his own question. He had just heard the most universe-shattering revelation possible, to the point that he still wasn’t certain whether it was true or not. And yet, his instincts urged him to view it in a positive light.

“There’s something broken about you,” the girl noted. “I guess if there wasn’t, you wouldn’t have broken me out.” She paused, looking briefly at the void above them.

The sound of helicopter propellers was clearly audible now. Awakened were carefully examining the area, searching for signs of magic use. Given that Margaret was missing from her bed, they’d probably spend a while in the area, yet still find nothing.

“Astreza is the only one who could get you back directly,” the Star said. “You might try asking him, or blackmailing him with what you’ve learned. The alternative is to go there yourself.”

“As simple as that?” The question wasn’t meant to be sarcastic. After what had happened in the awakened world, Dallion could feel there was a catch.

“Oh, he won’t like it, of course. The rest of them wouldn’t, either. There’s nothing they could do, but Astreza might.”

“What do you think he’ll do?”

“You have a good imagination. Figure it out. Does this make us even?”

That was another tricky question. Although she was nowhere as powerful as in the awakened world, there was no telling what letting her go would result in. It was possible that she’d go after the watchers for vengeance. It was possible that she might become their leader. With all the skills Dallion had re-learned, he stood a chance of defeating her. He could return her to the mental institution and let her remain there for the rest of her days. She had told him what he wanted to know.

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“Yes,” he said reluctantly. “As long as you don’t stir things up on Earth.”

“An Architect to the last,” the Star let out a single chuckle. “Don’t worry, I have no use running this place. It’s too boring. Besides, I’ve seen what Astreza could really do. Keep that in mind when you try to get back. You’ve no idea what a Moon is really capable of.”

Choppers kept taking turns roaming over the scene until evening. Then, when even the last skeptic had come to the conclusion that Dallion and the Star had left the area, the search was called off. Without a doubt, that would also mark the end of the surveillance over the mental institution. Without the Star, the place posed no interest whatsoever. Maybe the watchers would transform it into a place to keep unruly awakened, or maybe the network would transform it into a facility in which the void touched would get the void removed. As far as Dallion was concerned, it didn’t matter. He had a bigger problem to deal with.

The parting was brief and non-eventful. Each of the two went their separate ways. There were no threats, no goodbyes, just two people returning to their impossible lives in a world that didn’t know a thing.

Dallion spent the entire night walking. Twice he was stopped by police officers who were curious where someone was going on foot in the middle of nowhere. It would have been easy to have them give him a ride, but Dallion just thanked them for their concern and had them drive on.

Finding a way to get to the moon. Never before had he been so close, and yet so far away. Humanity had reached the stage at which rockets left for space every day. Even so, trips to the moon were wishful thinking and the last time a human had set foot there was decades ago.

If he had his previous magic abilities, he could try to fly there himself. Better yet, he could make a portal that would teleport him there. Right now, he couldn’t reach the atmosphere without a large source of energy, and no gas generator would let him get in orbit.

If I was outside, I’d take you there. The female voice echoed in his head.

Dallion stopped mid step, then concentrated.

It can’t be that difficult.

There was something about it that sounded familiar. Not the sound of it, or the intonation, but the attitude behind it all.

“Aqui?” Dallion asked.

Took you long enough! The reply was meant to be grumbly, but Dallion could feel unadulterated joy and relief. How come you kept talking to everyone else, but me?

She wasn’t wrong. Ever since he’d learned of Nox’s existence, he had addressed the crackling and Lux, and even Gleam, in the hopes she’d be able to help out. Not once did he consider talking to Aquilequia, possibly because she had only been with him for a very short while.

“You didn’t remain in the awakened world?” he asked.

I’m a great dragon! The voice said proudly. I snuck in.

That was something unexpected. Then again, for a creature made of magic itself, there were a lot more exceptions than for anyone else. The dragon had probably been curious what Dallion’s world might be, so she had lodged herself in his personal domain before he had been cast out. It was a stupid thing to do, but Dallion couldn’t help but be thankful.

“The time I fainted on campus,” he said. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

Well, the woman said that it takes lightning for you to regain a skill, Aquilequia replied with a degree of guilt. And she was right! Look how many skills I helped you learn!

“A warning would have been nice.” Just like Aquilequia to remain as stubborn as before. In that way, she was worse than a cat. “Thanks, though. You did help a lot.”

Sure did!

“Why didn’t you talk before?”

Do you have any idea how difficult it’s to talk here? The bird and the kitten can’t manage it at all. Second to zapping you, talking is exhausting.

Clearly, Earth made companions weaker as well, though only to a degree. Nox seemed in great shape as ever, and Lux’s healing abilities were a lot faster… as long as they were done in the real world. If Dallion were to guess, he’d say that Aquilequia’s “zapping” was only powerful in his awakening realm. Learning Zoology must have helped him hear her better, though only her. There would be no way Lux wouldn’t chirp his head off if he could.

“Get some rest, Aqui. I might need you later.”

More skill learning? the dragon asked.

“Maybe.”

Two skills remained for him to relearn: herbalism and arts. There were a few trait abilities he still lacked—spark and line attacks, more specifically. Hopefully, he’d be able to re-acquire them as well. As the Star said, Astreza would do everything in his power to keep him from returning to the awakened world. In order to succeed, Dallion had to be ready for it. Also, for that, he’d need more than skills alone.

The first thing he did upon arriving in Glasgow was ask someone for his phone. Dallion only needed to make one call, but for it, he wasn’t going to use the touch screen. Instead, he drained half the battery of the device and used it to spread through the cell network. A few seconds later, he had found his target.

“Still alive?” Jeremy asked from the other end. He also was using magic.

“Did you finish your business?”

“Business? What business? I’d be lucky to make a few million. I told you, I don’t like this place much.”

“Lucky for you, we’re going back.”

There was a prolonged silence.

“You found what you were looking for,” Jeremy said with a touch of envy.

“Yes, but I’ll need some help to do it. And not just you. Call Kraisten and tell him to bring Alien and Katka. All of us need to talk.”

“Alien in the same room as me?” The former emperor laughed. “For that alone, I’ll arrange it. Just don’t break anything. I just got the house renovated.”

“Sure. Also, if you know anything that I can use for magic, get it. I won’t be able to pull off the next part with car batteries alone.”

“Why? Where are we going?”

“The moon. I’m going to the moon.”