“Your serial breaking-and-entering criminal friend has returned,” I announced as I barged into Kene’s shop, which was technically closed for lunch at the moment.

“Mmph,” came the muffled response from upstairs. A few moments later, I heard the sound of them walking, and they emerged from the back, holding a sandwich. I took them in carefully.

The green in their hair had faded out to yellow, and with the yellow and blond mix, it was all kind of mixed together in a surprisingly pleasant way. Then again, I may have some bias there.

Their tattoos had changed again, which was no surprise. Now, rather than fun designs like the first version, or spikey spell diagrams like the second iteration, they resembled twisting knots and braids, interlocking in a nearly plant-like manner, channeling abnegation mana through them in a much smoother and more active manner than his last pair. His own solar tapped into them too, mixing with the abnegation in a mix that felt refreshingly cleansing.

Their fingers were stained at the tips still, but their teeth had actually gotten somewhat more human, which was apparent when they smiled.

Dusk made river noises, greeting Kene happily.

“Good to see you! I’ve only been back a few days, but I’d contemplated flying out to let you know I was back.”

Their voice faltered ever so slightly on the latter half of the last sentence, as if somewhat embarrassed.

“I’d been keeping an eye on the days,” I admitted quietly. They grinned and their eyebrows rose.

“Missed me that much, huh?” they asked teasingly, before taking another bite of their sandwich. Dusk, on my shoulder, leaned forwards and whispered that she wanted a bite of it.

“Ignore her,” I said as I stuck out my tongue. A moment later, my amused mood faded, though. “How are you doing? Seriously.”

Their own teasing look faded, and they shrugged, rotating their wrist.

“I’m doing okay. Admittedly, better than I thought I’d ever be. It’s still kind of sinking in, to be honest.”

Kene bowed his head to Dusk.

“Thank you again.”

Dusk let out a leaf-rustling that was deep, not in tone, but in meaning. She said how she had traded some of her power for his, an exchange, yes, but she did not feel she lost. She said how she would do it again, but she couldn’t do it forever, that it would unbalance the powers that made her what she was.

I shivered. She’d… never spoken like that before. I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it.

“Your new tattoos look neat,” I complimented, to fill the silence. “I may miss some of the more fun, cheerful ones, though.”

“I’m thinking of getting some, if I can build my power well enough for the spellbond to take, and not just shatter my spirit,” Kene said.

“You will,” I said firmly. “Oh! Before I forget, I have a gift for you.”

I waved my hand, conjuring a portal to Dusk’s realm.

“You didn’t have to do that,” they said as they took another bite of their sandwich.

“I know. But have you ever heard of a plant called Healer’s Heart?”

Kene stilled at that, then scrunched their eyebrows together, still chewing.

“There are a few plants by that name,” they said carefully once they were done. “Which one?”

In response, I led him to the plant. They crouched down, their jacket brushing the sand. After a few moments, their face grew pale.

“Malachi, I… Cannot take this. Do you have any idea what this is worth?”

“Less than a lushloam,” I said, shrugging. “Beyond that, I don’t know.”

“Well… Ignoring the fact that is a ridiculous comparison, I’m not sure either. But… They take so much special care. I’m not sure I can.”

I sent a thought to Dusk through our bond, who contemplated it for a while, and then hopped off my shoulder. With a crow’s caw, she announced she was going to see Meadow, and she left.

“I won’t force you to take it,” I said. “The last thing I want is to put a financial burden on you. But I wanted to offer you a cutting, if you wanted one.”

They rose and dusted the sand off of them, then scratched their chin.

“I… I don’t know,” they finally said. “I’m going to have to think about it. It’s an absolutely amazing tool, but the cost of it is also really high.”

“That’s totally understandable,” I said, nodding. “Well, you’ve got some time. Meadow, my mentor, wants to take me to a spatially aligned mana locus nearby, apparently.”

“You mean that you weren’t just here to see me? My heart, destroyed and gone…” they said, smirking at me.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“She hadn’t planned to stop here, I asked,” I said defensively, hamming up the amount of defensiveness. “But I also wanted to invite you. I’m not sure exactly how many useful herbs you’ll be able to gather from a locus like that, but it’s probably second gate, so that may count for something?”

There was a knock at the door, and I looked over to see Meadow, Dusk on her shoulder. Kene waved them in, then took a bite of his sandwich, which was almost gone now.

“You must be Kene,” Meadow said, smiling and extending a hand to them. They wiped their hand on their jacket, then shook.

“That’s me,” they said. “I must say, you’re not as terrifying as I feared.”

Meadow laughed at that, handing Dusk off to me.

“And your condition is not nearly so bad as I feared,” she said. “Oh, and I deduced it myself, before you cast blame on Malachi here.”

Their eyebrows shot up, and they self-consciously touched their tattoos.

“I… You must have powerful mana senses,” Kene said.

Dusk giggled, apparently finding that funny, though I didn’t see the humor in it.

“I do,” Meadow said. “I’ve come to hear that you’re an alchemist?”

Kene swept their sharp-pointed fingers over the shop.

“I made most of what’s in here. If not, I ordered it in from a reputable shop in the city.”

Meadow smiled, nodding along.

“Indeed, I inspected the quality of the potion that you guided Malachi through the creation of, and I was impressed.”

“Thanks,” Kene said. After a pause, they continued. “So… a spatial locus? I could see what’s out there, and fly back if there’s nothing of note.”

“Certainly,” Meadow said, nodding.

The three of us flew out, Meadow on the winds of her potion, while Kene and I rode broomsticks.

“Between my brother, Dusk, me, and Kene, you should look into a flying carpet,” I joked with Meadow.

“Or maybe one of those big flying clouds,” Kene nodded, though he didn’t seem to recognize it as a joke.

Dusk exclaimed that she wanted to eat a flying cloud, and I patted her head. That did briefly make me wonder what would happen if she did, though. There was no way she’d gain full on flight, as only a first gate spirit, but she might develop it once she hit third gate? Until then, would it just be big jumps?

We flew over the forest, taking a somewhat sideways route from the line that Kene and I had grown accustomed to following, going more east than normal.

The part of the forest we touched down in was calm, but shadowy. There was spatial power thick in the air, certainly a locus, but it wasn’t the same as the clearing that Kene and I had first found.

There was a kind of eerie stillness in it, nature largely undisturbed.

Undisturbed, that was, until Kene wandered off, using a trowel to remove some dark blue flowers. He left plenty to grow back, but a handful slid into his storage ring.

“What is that?” I asked him. “Some sort of healing plant?”

Kene opened his mouth to speak, but Meadow cut them off.

“Use your mana senses, then tell me.”

I nodded to her, then focused on the plant. I traced the energy in the plant… There was life, of course, as there was in all plants, but more. A mix of tempest, creation, and touches of lunar.

I didn’t think that it was healing. The mana wasn’t right. I didn’t have the reference for healing spells, not truly, but the feelings and impressions it gave me were wrong. And to my conscious mind, I knew tempest, creation, mental, and lunar weren’t the right kind of mana to heal.

So what did that leave?

I traced the energy circuits inside the plant, moving slowly. I didn’t know enough about spells or spell construction to say for sure, but…

Dusk piped up, asking if it was an illusion.

“But what kind?” Meadow asked, and I snapped my eyes open, only to see that during my focus, Kene had wandered off, presumably divining the location of useful plants nearby.

I glanced at Dusk, and we discussed for a few moments before I answered.

“I… I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Meadow smiled and took my hand, squeezing gently.

“There is no need for you to apologize, and no shame in admitting ignorance. Though I will say, as a budding alchemist, you should begin to look into spells of many mana types. The small grimoire that Kene gifted you was a good start. Alchemy can reach a thousand and one disciplines, so you should familiarize yourself with the basics of many.”

I’d skimmed the book, but I hadn’t had the time to sit down and read, and my cheeks burned.

“I’ll make sure I can learn more about it,” I said, “but what kind of illusion is it?”

“Olfactory,” Kene said, emerging from the trees. “I was surprised to see it at a spatial locus, but a locus of any sort is good for plants. At its lowest level uses, it can be used to make colognes and perfumes, but it’s also used to make more complex things like pheromone potions.”

“Like the ones you used against the bugs,” I said, nodding.

“Yep. I needed some more for that exact reason. Blueshade doesn’t keep well in my garden, since they require a lot more darkness than a normal flower would. Luckily, it’s common enough that I can wild harvest.”

I glanced at Dusk, who hopped off my shoulder and absorbed a few of the flowers. We had enough shade in her astral plane, so it couldn’t hurt to try and grow it.

With that done, I glanced at Meadow.

“I assume that these flowers aren’t the reason we came here.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Meadow said with a smile. “Why don’t you go and find out why we’re here?”

I nodded and expanded my mana senses out wide. Next to me, Dusk did the same, and I was surprised to see that despite me being a full gate ahead of her, her mana senses were almost as strong as mine, and they felt deeper as well, like the tempering mine had received from ingraining my spells.

I sent mana into Analyze Space, Life, and Death, as well as into Vampiric Senses.

The world around me exploded, and I staggered back. This was the first time since my ascension to second gate, and I hadn't been prepared for the massive increase in input.

I cut the flow off to my spells, then layered them one by one.

First, Analyze Space. Meadow had me here to look for spatial magic, after all.

The web of space revealed itself to me, the distances of everything around me coming to my understanding. I slowly let my awareness wander, my feet moving with me.

The second I layered was Vampiric Senses. Its enhanced sight, hearing, and smell should be useful.

The sensations of the forest sharpened. Meadow's slow heartbeat and floral scent. Kene's slightly quicker heart, their clashing scents of the hag parasite and their own sharp, herbal smells.

The hammering heart rate of the birds, between two and ten times as fast. Their scents of wind and berries and nuts and seeds.

And around us, though not as close, more. Musky deer. Gamey rabbits. Sulphury foxes. Wild lizards.

Foxes?

Foxes that smelled unlike foxes.

I traced the scent of the nearest one, sweeping Analyze Space through the area. Yes, the fox-thing was absolutely right past the next tree. Behind it, probably.

Then space stretched, seeming to grow thin. It wasn't the folding of space like the Transport Item spell, exactly.

No, that was close, but not quite right. Like I was able to see the cast iron, smell the sauteing vegetables, someone had turned the actual vegetables invisible.

The scent was behind me now, and I turned around to see what appeared for all the world to be an ordinary fox.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kene and Meadow chatting, but I was focused.

I focused Analyze Space towards the fox, who's tongue lolled out of its mouth, and just before my spell could get a good look, it vanished, letting out a yip.

It was… Playing?

I laughed and chased after the scent and where my Analyze Space spell was showing me the warp of new spatial disturbances.

The fox yipped again and teleported away, deeper into the underbrush. I dashed forwards, holding Dusk tightly to my side as I did.