On the sixth day, Colette finally deemed it safe enough to remove the chains. As soon as she gave me the signal, I began to chant a spell that effortlessly broke the chains. Colette looked at me in astonishment.

"You could have done that the whole time?" she asked incredulously.

"Indeed, it's a Tier 2 evocation spell," I replied calmly, rising to my feet and rubbing my wrists. "But I understood that you didn't trust me. If I had broken out, you would have only trusted me less." I paused, “Is Sun gone?”

“He disappeared without a trace a few days ago,” She replied her tone somber,

I nodded, I guess that is just one more thing added to my ever-growing to-do list. At one point Colette had told me that the Elven Embassy wanted to stay both to continue their peace talks and so they could meet me. Then there were the preparations for the looming threat of the D-Police, Alexander said they would be after me now so I needed to be prepared. To do that I needed to get stronger, and to do that I needed to go get more spell books, and to do that… Well, you get the point.

I immediately headed to visit the Queen of the Elves. Queen Eladriel had rented out the best hotel in town for her and her men to sleep in. Upon entering the hotel, two guards and Queen Eladriel greeted me. She rushed up to me, grasping my hands in excitement before returning to her elegant manner.

“Quinn, I wish to offer my deepest thanks to you,” She did a small courtesy, “With your help, we were able to avoid an all-out war. Is there anything I can provide for you to repay you? I can offer you the finest elven husband or wife,”

I chuckled, “As tempting as that is, there are more pressing matters at hand. Do you happen to have a royal library?”

She nodded, “We do, but I'm afraid I cannot repay you in that manner. It is taboo to let a human read our books or take them outside of our borders.”

I smiled, “What if I only wanted to touch the books? I possess a special ability that allows me to absorb the contents of a book merely by touching it. No one would know that I had read anything.”

Queen Eladriel raised an eyebrow, impressed and intrigued. "I see, that is quite an unusual ability. Very well, I can allow you to touch the books in our royal library, but only under one condition," she said, her tone serious.

"What is it?" I asked, eager to get my hands on those books.

"You must promise to never reveal or share any of the information you absorb from our books. Our knowledge is sacred and should not be taken lightly," she said firmly.

I nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. "I promise to never reveal or share any of the knowledge I gain from your library," I assured her.

“Good,” She nods, “When we return to the Elven Continent you may come with us and stay for two days to visit the library,”

That got rid of two tasks in one. I would have to solve the mystery of Sun’s whereabouts when I returned from the Elven Continent. Of course, I could not forget about the D-Police, but that would have to wait.

***

I awoke to the familiar voice of Alexander in my mind, and hearing his kind voice brought a sense of comfort.

“Whoo,” he took a deep breath, “By the Director, that was terrible. What did I miss?”

I proceeded to inform him of everything that had happened, leaving out no detail. As I finished recounting the events, I heard him let out a sigh.

"Wow, I guess I can't even leave your soul for a minute before things start to go wrong," he said.

I shrugged. "I did the best I could under the circumstances."

“I don’t think attempted murder while being possessed counts as handling things well," Alexander remarked.

Then something strange happened. Alexander, whose voice was usually calm and collected, sounded afraid. "Quinn, they're here. I can feel their presence," he said urgently.

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I began to panic. "What are we going to do?" I asked.

Alexander's breathing was heavy. "This might sound counterproductive, but it's our best chance. We need to head towards them," he said.

Normally, I would have argued with Alexander, but this was not a normal situation. He used to work for these people, so it made sense that he would know more than I did. I followed his instructions, which led me to a small clearing in the forest. There, I saw two people, a masculine figure and a woman.

The woman was stunningly beautiful, with black hair braided neatly behind her back. She had two long swords on her waist and smiled at the other person with her. "Jay, have you found anything yet?" she asked.

"Stop rushing me!" Jay yelled back.

Jay was neater in appearance compared to the woman. Their blond hair was neatly combed, and they had a few papers poking out of their jacket, but that was the only sign of clutter on them. They had a bow strapped to their back, with a quiver on their side, but they seemed uncomfortable with the weapon.

"You positive they don't have rifles in this dimension?" They asked.

The woman groaned. "For the hundredth time, yes!" She paused and looked right at me. "You sense that?" she said.

I took this moment to reveal myself, my heart racing with fear. “I’m so sorry,” I said, “I was just wandering around the forest,”

“Alright,” the woman, Kierra, said, “No worries, you may leave.”

But Jay interrupted, “She knows more than she's letting on. We were able to say 'dimension' near her.”

“You’re right, but she's not even at the level,” Kierra shrugged and began to unsheathe her swords, “Guess we'll have to kill her.”

I could feel Alexander's fear and urgency in my mind as he spoke to me, "Recite my words exactly, Quinn. 'Kierra 'The Blade' Domos, Jay 'Longshot' Nguyen, stand down.'"

I took a deep breath and repeated the words' word for word, "Kierra 'The Blade' Domos, Jay 'Longshot' Nguyen, stand down."

Kierra and Jay hesitated for a moment before lowering their weapons.

Their expressions were hard to read. Was it sadness or joy?

“Alexander?” Kierra said, “Is that you?”

“Yes and no,” I said, still repeating Alexander. “I live in this girl’s soul now. I have died twice, and this will be my home until she dies.”

Kierra seemed to have more questions, but she pushed them aside as she ran up to hug me.

“It’s not the same,” she sighed. “You’re the biggest idiot ever. How did you manage to die twice?” She laughed and pulled away from the hug. “But you’re my idiot.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Jay said. “I missed him just as much as you did, but that still doesn’t tell us where the D-Force reading came from.”

“Oh, I can answer that,” I said, not speaking for Alexander. “We performed a soul summon to fight a dragon.”

“Wow,” Jay laughed. “He needed that much D-Force to kill a single dragon!” Jay almost fell over in laughter.

“Hey!” Alexander yelled in my mind. “I’d like to see them try to kill a dragon after not being in their own body for four years. They’re so lucky I’m not in my body right now; otherwise, I would—”

Alexander continued his rant, but I ignored him. “Alexander really missed your sense of humor,” I lied.

This made Kierra join Jay in laughter. “By the director! He’s probably going on some rant right now!”

“He’s probably going to mention that time he fought an army by himself at least four times,” Jay laughed.

“So what are you going to do to me?” I asked once they had finished laughing,

Jay smiled, “Well at least a small portion of you is Alexander, so we won’t take you into custody,”

I sighed, finally some good news. Then they continued,

“We will be staying in this dimension for a little bit, we need to catch up with Alexander,” Jay then frowned at a new thought appearing in their mind, “You don’t happen to have a place for us to stay, do you?”

I sigh, “Not immediately, I might be able to work something out though,”

I began to walk them to the hotel where the Elf Queen was staying, hoping they would allow my friends to stay there. As we walked, Jay and Kierra bombarded me with questions, most of them about Alexander. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I was on the verge of bursting from the constant barrage. I walked up to the guards and bowed respectfully, and they immediately recognized me.

"Excuse me," I asked, "Do you mind letting my friends stay with you?"

The first guard hesitated. "We have no problem letting you stay, as you are a friend of the Queen," he said, "But we have no knowledge of these people you bring with you. What is your relationship to them?"

Before I could say anything, Kierra interrupted. "We are her parents," she lied, flashing a smile. "I am Kierra Noir, and this is Jay Noir."

The guards immediately changed their attitudes, their posture now respectful and accommodating.

"Well, as the parents of the Queen's friend, of course, you can stay here," said the first guard, nodding in agreement.

The second guard chimed in, "And I must add, I would have believed you if you said you were Lady Noir's sister. You two bear a striking resemblance."

Kierra grinned, "Oh, you flatter me," she said, playfully fanning herself.