A cool breeze swept across the vast, interior courtyard of Alissey’s Mages Guild as Drake circled the gem-encrusted obelisk, located to the side of the gate leading out into the street. He could vaguely hear the muffled sounds coming from the other side of the wall surrounding them. But while his ears registered it, his mind paid little heed to it. He sighed, the faint purple glow around his eyes fading.

“Still no luck with that spirit of yours?”

Arms crossed, Roy looked at him while leaning against the ashen trunk of a large, blue-leafed tree near the obelisk.

“No… I can sense the link between us, but whenever I try to reach out, I just get this… muted feeling of fright.”

“I see.”

“Did I screw up the pact somehow? Or am I doing something wrong?”

A rare smile graced Roy’s lips as he gently shook his head. “No, Drake. Just trust me and give it a bit of time. I’ll be okay. Also, have you heard from those friends of yours? And are you sure you can trust them?”

“What?” he asked, still preoccupied with the alien feeling gnawing at the back of his mind. “Oh! Yeah, I spoke with Bane a few minutes ago. They should be here soon. But…”

Hesitating, he raised his head and was met with Roy’s icy-blue eyes. However, the same gaze that had first sent shivers racing through his bones, now held only patience. And seeing the master simply gesture with his finger, rotating it in a sort of ‘do go on’ fashion, he took a deep breath and continued.

“I’ve known Bane for most of my life, and him and his dad have been the only ones to always stick by me. And while I wouldn’t trust him to ever make good decisions when it came to himself,” he chuckled, “I would trust him with my life.”

“How about the other two?”

Drake stopped to think for a second. “I honestly don’t know,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “I’m not exactly a… people person for the most part. But if Bane trusts them, I’d be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Roy’s eyes flared a bright blue as he fixed his sights on the tall, metal gate. “Interesting,” he mused, his all-too-familiar grin returning. “Seems like two of them have stumbled over some pretty rare magic.”

Before Drake could ask the master what he had meant, he heard the gate creaking open. Three figures entered the courtyard, shrouded by the deepening twilight, and then made their way towards them.

First, a tall woman with jet-black horns sprouting from underneath her raven hair came into view. Clad in plate armor and carrying a large, dented shield on her back, the taur stopped several feet away from him, straightening her back and staring directly at him. Her gaze jumped from him, to the obelisk, and finally to Roy. And at that moment, Drake noticed her taking a step back.

From behind the shield maiden, a young, blonde human female walked out. At least a head shorter than both him and the taur, she bowed her head and smiled kindly at both him and the master as she clutched a dark tome strapped over her shoulder with a thin chain.

“Drake!”

The sound of his friend’s voice took him by surprise. He had expected to hear Dan, but at the same time, he didn’t know what he would look or even sound like. The amber-eyed lycan in front of him did remind him of his buddy, especially when it came to the warmth of his expression. However, the characteristic roundness of his cheeks was… gone.

“Oh!” he chuckled, “looks like my training regimen’s already paying off!”

“Low blow!” Bane cried, bringing his hands up to his neck and belly, as if trying to defend himself from Drake’s words. “Come here, you asshole!”

The lycan dashed in to hug him so suddenly, slamming him on the back that for a moment Drake waited to see if a damage notification would pop up. “Y’know… people are really gonna get the wrong idea.”

Scoffing, his friend pulled away. “Oh, so now I’m embarrassing you? Fine,” he sighed, rolling his eyes in the most exaggerated manner possible.

Drake shook his head and turned around. “Alright everyone, I’d like to introduce master Roy Darkeye to you, the head of Bord’s branch of the Mages Guild. And if, by some miracle, this guy hasn’t managed to talk your ear off yet, by blabbing about literally everything that goes through that thing he calls a head, my name’s Drake.”

“Oh, you guys are as adorable as a married couple!” the taur snickered, slapping Bane’s back and jolting him a foot forward. “The name’s Valara, but feel free to call me Vala.”

“And I’m Mia,” said the blonde woman, beaming them another smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“Okay,” Roy groaned, hoisting himself up and striding next to them. “I’m sorry to break this up, but we’ve got work to do. So, this is what we’re going to do,” he said, his tone leaving no room for any sort of interruption. “Drake has to take care of some business for me, so he’ll be heading off separately. We’ll all meet up back in Bord once he’s done. In the meantime, you three are going to rendezvous with Arthur, my vice guild master. I’ve already left word with him. He’ll arrange for someone to help you get supplies for your upcoming trip.”

“Wait,” said Drake, staring confusedly at Roy as a heavy sense of dread crept its way into his bones, “what trip?”

The Master’s Task Roy Darkeye has requested of you to prepare for an upcoming expedition. Travel to Bord and await further instructions once you have finished your preparations.

This quest cannot be declined.

Quest Difficulty: D

“The trip I’ll be setting up while you youngsters go about your business for a bit,” the master grinned, pointing his palm towards the obelisk.

A defeated smile graced Drake’s lips as he skimmed through the quest and then turned his attention towards the newly arrived trio. The lycan simply chuckled, while both women, visibly puzzled, glanced at one another, before looking at him. He simply shrugged and gestured towards Bane.

Facing the other two, the lycan winked. “I’ll tell you about this… situation a bit later. For now, we should probably get going. The trip to Bord’s probably going to take a while.”

“Oh yes,” Drake laughed, taking a step back as the area around Roy’s palm began to shimmer and warp, collapsing in on itself to form a large, mirror-like surface, beyond which they could spot the lush greenery of Mages Guild’s courtyard back in Bord. “It’s gonna take a grand total of several seconds!” he laughed, heading towards the portal as Roy stopped him.

“You and I have another destination in mind,” the old mage snickered as he gestured to the other three.

They warily crossed the portal’s threshold, one by one, as Bane nodded towards him. “See you soon!”

And as the portal blinked out of existence, taking the lycan’s image along with it, Roy had already opened another one leading to what seemed to be an empty field.

Drake stepped through and shuddered as the wind rolled over the tiny beads of sweat running down the nape of his neck. Appearing next to him, Roy looked down and, without any explanation, tapped his heavy sabatons against the ground. Although barely audible, he was certain that he had heard a hollow clank coming from somewhere directly underneath them. The old mage then kneeled down and, parting the grass, placed his hand directly on the soil.

“Um, master, where exactly are we?” he asked, getting no reply as he saw the runic symbol on Roy’s gauntlet lighting up.

The earth itself groaned, causing Drake to jerk back. Right in front of them, a hollow, stone column rose from the depths. And nestled onto the bottom part of the column was a thin, stone disc, wide enough to accommodate several people, with runes layered all around its edges.

“We’re directly above a World Gate,” the master answered. “Come on.”

Following Roy’s lead, they both walked on and, with another low groan, the platform began its descent. The dim circle of starlight above them gradually became smaller until it blinked out of existence. After a few more seconds, the absolute darkness around them gave way. They found themselves suspended in midair near the ceiling of an enormous cavern as the tuned disc continued its journey towards the floor below. Peering up, Drake saw the tunnel closing up behind them in the middle of a gem-encrusted mural that reminded him of the two obelisks present within the Mages Guild courtyards. Glancing down, his knees weakened as he then felt Roy gripping his shoulder and pulling him back. ‘I’m kind of glad we teleported on the other side of that thing…'

Without a sound, the platform touched down onto a section encircled by bright, gray Manastones, embedded directly into the floor itself. As they got off the platform and passed by the crystals, Drake could feel the low hum that they emitted resonating with the air in his chest. And only once they had crossed the threshold marked out by the ring of pale-gray light, did he notice the seven robed people stationed around the ring’s edge.

On the opposite side of the chamber, guarded by another group of robed mages, was a World Gate identical to the one they had stumbled over underneath the Manor’s ruins. As they approached, the mages encircling the Gate straightened their backs and saluted Roy, hastily moving out of the way.

A single mage remained in their path, a woman wearing the same royal blue robes as all the others, with the added flair of golden embroidery along her sleeves. She looked to be in her forties, however, her snow-white hair and the rows of scars on her face did little to aid Drake’s guess. “May the Eternal Archon lend you strength, Master Roy,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her.

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“Cut the formalities, Grace. You know I don’t care for Ezra’s bullshit.”

While the mages around them froze, the woman named Grace simply chuckled. “Understood, master. And you must be Drake!” she smiled as she turned to face him. “I do hope that the master hasn’t been too unreasonable.”

“No,” he muttered, sneaking a peek at Roy who’s raised brow seemed to await his answer. “I’ve… had the opportunity to learn quite a lot.”

“Oh, now that just won’t do, master! You really should be nicer to your apprentice!” she giggled as the old mage simply scoffed.

“Worry about yourself first, lass. Now, let’s get to it” he said, turning towards Drake and pushing him gently onto the Gate’s platform.

As his foot touched down onto the smooth, stone tiles, waves of light rippled forward from the point of contact, travelling across the World Gate’s surface. With the corner of his eye, he saw the surrounding mages tense up as he heard the system’s usual chime.

You have discovered another World Gate.

Would you like to travel to another previously discovered World Gate by using Enoa’s Fast Travel Network?

YesNo

“Well?” Roy’s voice resounded from behind him.

“It’s giving me the option to travel to the other Gate,” he replied. As he turned to face the master, he saw the mages’ glancing at one another, exchanging tacit looks of concern.

Stepping beside him, the master placed a hand on his shoulder. “Alright, let’s see this thing in action.”

Drake took a deep breath, unsure of how the entire thing would feel. But as his mind focused on the prompt’s ‘yes’ option, another system notification appeared in front of him.

Unable to Fast Travel with a non-Stranger companion.

‘Shit…'

“So, it won’t work with me as well,” said the master, causing Drake to jerk his head towards him.

“How did you…”

“Arcanum.”

It took a moment for Drake to internalize what had just happened. “Wait… so you mean to tell me that you’ve been able to hear my every thought from the moment you transferred your spirit to me? And not only that, but you never even bothered to tell me?!”

“Not every thought,” Roy grinned, brushing aside Drake’s indignation. “I asked him to report just the important stuff back to me.”

As he stood there, speechless, he then heard Arcanum’s voice inside his head. “I apologize for not telling you, Drake. But the master forbade me from mentioning this aspect of Spiritual Resonance to you. Rest assured, however, that I have only relayed back information regarding your system and the World Gate to the master.”

Despite sensing the strong feelings of sincerity and guilt present in Arcanum’s voice, he still couldn’t believe it. He felt used. Used and betrayed. And to make matters worse, the spirit’s mounting sadness just made him even angrier.

“I am sorry, Drake…”

“I know. It wasn’t your idea, but just… drop it.”

Arcanum has terminated Spiritual Resonance .

He closed his eyes and sighed as he struggled to calm himself down. ‘It’s just a damn game. Getting pissed off about it won’t really do much anyway.’ However, the sentiment persisted, gnawing at him from within. “So, now what?” he asked, his voice a monotone drawl.

For the first time since Drake had met him, Roy seemed genuinely surprised. “Do you still have the Link Sphere that Percy gave you?”

He nodded as he stared directly into the master’s icy blue eyes, awaiting what had to be another ridiculous task. But the old mage said nothing for a moment, as if unsure of what his next words should be.

“Alright,” Roy sighed, fishing out a heavy roll of parchment and something that looked like a strange watch with three glowing, blue stones inside of it. “Take this map and this compass. Once you arrive at the Gate, use the Sphere to get into contact with Arthur. He’ll guide you further.”

Grabbing the two items, Drake turned around and began walking towards the center of the World Gate as he heard the master’s voice once again.

“Please don’t think too ill of me, Drake. Be careful out there.”

His surroundings melted away in a storm of colorful lights as a brief sensation of weightlessness washed over him, immediately followed by a small jolt.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the unnaturally lit chamber of the World Gate. In front of him, another notification popped up, displaying a cooldown time of 24 hours. He ambled forward, stepping off of the platform. And despite his body feeling much lighter under the effects of the dungeon, all he wanted to do was sit down. He sighed, the chamber around him echoing him faintly as the silence soon regained its hegemony.

“Damn it…”

His emotions had gotten the better of him. He could blame his lack of experience, sure. But deep down, he knew that that was nothing more than an excuse. Roy had always acted with the best interest of his people at heart. It was absurd to think that anyone would just blindly trust a total stranger like that.

“Yeah, that wasn’t a really great moment back there.”

Drake shot up the moment he heard the unknown voice speaking, his hand reaching for his sword. “Who’s there?!” he yelled, scanning every inch of the chamber.

“Wow! Take it easy! It’s me, Zeph. No use in giving us both a heart attack.”

“Zeph…? Oh!” A sigh of relief escaped him as he then let go of his blade’s handle. “You had me a bit worried since you weren’t waking up. How are you?”

“I’m fine. This is honestly the best I’ve felt ever since that rift opened up and flung me straight into that giant buzzard’s gullet.”

“Glad to hear that,” he smiled, taking a seat on the edge of the platform again. “So, I’m still kind of new to this whole Spiritualism thing and I don’t really know most of the ins and outs, but if you want out of this Pact, I’ll ask the master about it.”

“That scary, old mage wearing plate armor is your master? Sheesh… talk about tough luck.”

“Heh,” he snickered, “it’s not that bad. And—wait, when did you get the chance to see master Roy?”

“Uh… back when you two were talking in the courtyard near that weird obelisk?”

“So,” Drake sighed, tilting his head as he rubbed his forehead, “you mean to tell me that you’ve been awake for the last half an hour at least? Why didn’t you say anything?”

But before Zeph could say anything, he recalled the sensation that had washed over him back in the Guild’s courtyard when he last tried to establish the link between him and the spirit. A stifled, mounting dread. “I’m sorry… I—”

“No, no! Don’t worry about it,” he heard Zeph say, the spirit’s voice sounding almost as miserable as his. “I mean, yeah… it is a bit scary, with this kind of being a new world for me as well. But hey! At least we got that in common. And you do seem like a nice guy. So, yeah. Sorry. I know I should’ve said something sooner.”

Listening to Zeph speak, he couldn’t help but smile, since the spirit did remind him a bit of Dan.

“Dan’s the half-wolf guy, right?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “This whole ‘reading my thoughts' thing is really gonna take some getting used to.”

“Well!” Zeph sang, lilting every one of his words, “aren’t you happy then that I have such a wonderful voice?”

“Definitely!”

“Good, good! By the way, what were those blue, floating messages earlier?”

Slightly confused, Drake hesitated for a moment before bringing up his Status Window.

“Exactly! Those things.”

“So, you can also see them,” he mumbled as he checked on a couple of things. “I wonder if Zane and Arcanum could also see them.” But as he posed the question, he noticed a new option underneath his own status, titled Spiritual Familiars, that contained a single entry.

Familiar Status Window Name:Zephyr the Windborn Rank:Greater Spirit Affinity:Wind Level:10 (Adjusted to Contractor)

Basic Stats Strength:15Intelligence:20 Vitality:35Endurance:20 Agility:50Power:20

Basic Info Having been rescued from beneath the ruins of Stills Manor, Zephyr has agreed to aid you in your journeys.

Skills:

* Wind Strike (Apprentice, Level 1)

Spiritual Pact Cost: -5% Mana Regeneration

“Oh, wow! This floating message has my name on it!”

“So, you can even understand what it says?” he asked, scratching his head as he looked over Zeph’s Stats. “This will probably take a bit of explaining. Do you mind if we talk about it in just a bit?”

“Sure.”

Taking the Link Sphere out of his inventory, Drake began to channel his mana into it. And as he did so, he sensed Zeph’s curiosity flaring. Even more, he appreciated the fact that the spirit refrained from asking any questions for the time being.

“Hello, Drake.”

“Hi, Arthur. How’ve you been?”

“Good, albeit a bit busier ever since you showed up,” he laughed. “Which brings me to—”

Arthur’s words trailed off as the connection suddenly cut off. “Are you still there? Hello?”

“Runt! Did it work?”

“Yes,” he said, rolling his eyes. “It worked and there really is a one day—”

“Don’t say another word!” Drake could hear a frustrated sigh inside his head as the Link Sphere continued to pulse within his palm. “Alright. Then just hurry back. We’ll have a caravan waiting for you and your friends here in Bord at first light. Don’t you dare miss it!”

Trial by Fire Update: In preparation for an upcoming mission, Roy has ordered you to return to Bord by sunrise.

Time Remaining: 5h 47m until sunrise.

This quest cannot be declined.

Quest Difficulty: C

Drake read the prompt in front of him. “Less than six hours…?!” he groaned, skimming through the quest update again. “Master, it took us nearly twice as much to get here in the first place!”

“Your spirit might be able to help you out in that regard. Look, Drake… I have to go now. Take care and keep in touch with Arthur.”

With those words, the Sphere’s light grew dimmer. “Shit…”

“Yeah… he really is pushy,” said Zeph as Drake could only nod in silent resignation. “But I do actually have an idea that I think could work.”

And as he listened to his spirit’s explanation, a gentle, refreshing breeze began to circle around him, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.