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Shards of Old
135. Link

135. Link

When my senses came back to my regular weirdness, I realized that I was sitting as well. Just like the trio sharing the room with me.

While I was definitely awake, they were not. Although their mana looked a lot more healthy than before, and I mean A LOT.

As I stood up, wondering how exactly I should go about trying to wake them up, they started doing that on their own.

For was first, followed closely by Kon. Both started stirring and groaning and slowly sat up looking at each other.

-What in the hell was that…? - groaned For, grabbing her head in pain. - How long was I out…?

-Not that bad this time - I replied, getting closer to them. - You feeling alright?

-My head is killing me, but besides that I am good… Wait, what about the rest…?

She glanced towards the other two.

Kon was already sitting up and gazing into space again.

-And he’s back to being vacant… - I sighed, noticing the stare.

But, surprisingly, he answered.

-It’s not that bad…

For, jumped, not expecting to hear his voice.

-Kon that’s you?!

He looked a bit puzzled and overwhelmed when she leaped towards him, shaking him wildly.

-Er… yes, that’s me, please let me go.

She quickly realized what she was doing and stepped back.

-OH! Sorry! I don’t know what got into me…

-Kon, it’s really you… - I repeated, happy to hear his voice. - But how exactly?

-I… I am not sure what’s going on myself…

He sounded a lot less confused than one would expect after being taken over by someone else…

-Not sure? No wonder, you were controlled just a second ago…

-Well, not exactly controlled… - he mumbled. - It’s more like… borrowed?

She looked at him with concern. I, on the other hand, was intrigued.

-Borrowed? You mean you know what was going on meanwhile?

-Yes. Well, mostly… It’s a bit fuzzy.

He squinted, trying to collect his thoughts.

-Take a second and remember, I need to…

As I was talking with them, I was approaching Goldie. He was still on the ground, half-awake, but definitely stirring. I was intending to take the opportunity and incapacitate him for the time being, since the only thing he was capable of was creating problems.

Just to check, I briefly touched him, checking if I could drain him, but no dice: still was not possible. I sort of was hoping that since ILMA was not with him I would be able to again, but apparently not.

Or… wait, was she not?

-ILMA, where are you?

I asked the question to the room, or mostly towards Goldie lying on the floor, but I got no answer from him.

On the other hand, I felt an itch in the back of my head, while Kon grabbed his head and yelped.

-What’s wrong? - For immediately asked.

She was strangely protective of him…

-It’s… just a voice… I heard a voice…

-Don’t tell me…

-Yeah… it’s her - he nodded. - She’s talking to me… or rather replying to you.

-Well damn.

-And she heard me…? Well shit… you got a roommate in there… - I mumbled.

-I guess we know where she is… - I thought to myself.

Or at least I thought that I was just thinking to myself, because both Kon and For immediately jumped.

-I can hear you! - Kon replied with his thoughts back to me, visibly happy. - Before I was trying to get to you and you were not replying.

-Oh! So the link is not broken. I thought something was wrong before, but I guess it was just because you got… overwhelmed, I guess?

-I suppose so…

-So tell me, what did you hear? I mean, what do you remember and what you saw? Things have been hectic…

-I… well, by the way shouldn't we be talking out loud? I am sure she wants to hear that as well…?

-Oh… Er…

-”She” can hear you, too.

He definitely did not expect that. He looked spooked as hell.

-Miss?! How?! It’s…

-Just For is fine. And that’s thanks to Mor. I guess?

-Yeah, that thing is hard to explain. I honestly have no idea why and how exactly that happened. But that’s kind of handy.

-Yeah… At least Goldie can’t hear us…

She gazed towards the still groaning Goldie on the floor.

-Are we sure about that? - I asked. - I managed to peek into his head. And we did share a vision again….

-You think that he’s in here with us too, and just pretending?

-I would if it was anyone else than him. I honestly don’t believe that he’s smart enough to try something like this.

-I am afraid you might be right…

Silently, we stared at the man.

-So… what are we supposed to do with him?

-Put him back into jail? We still have the cell downstairs…

-Again? I guess don’t fix what’s not broken…

-We should hurry. He’s waking up…

-Er… I think that we don’t need to hurry…

-Why?

-I don’t think he’s waking up. Or rather that HE is not waking up. She is.

I raised my non-existing brow, but quickly understood what he meant.

Goldie was now completely awake, and staring right at me.

I got startled for a second, thinking that he might again try something stupid, but quickly realized my mistake.

His eyes were completely glazed over. Just like before.

-ILMA, that’s you…?

I noticed Kon flinch and at the same time the same itch on the back of my head came back.

-Affirmative.

-Damn.

-Huh…

-That makes things a little bit easier…

-Right…

That was true. We at least didn’t have to worry if he’s going to start again with some strange plot to take me to Axelrod… however impossible that might be. But that also brought a lot more questions, too…

-Er, Kon, do you keep hearing her?

-Yes.

-She’s still there?

For was intrigued, too.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

-How the hell is she in two places at once?

-I… I don’t know… I am not sure if she is really inside me as well, I just… well, I can hear her answering whenever you call for her…

-I can too…

-You too!?

-Does that mean she’s in THREE places at once!?

-I am not sure… but I don’t really hear her. It’s just… she’s giving me… well, sort of a headache.

-I feel the same, too! - announced Kon. - It’s like something was on the edge of my mind trying to get in…

-Shit.

-Well, it’s not as invasive for me. I just feel an itch and don’t hear a word. That will be annoying…

I noticed Kon flinching.

-But what about…

He stopped mid-sentence. Even without finishing his thought, I had a good idea what he was about to say and why he stopped, but I decided that there was no point in hiding stuff.

-You are worried about Iloa? Well, I am, too. I haven’t heard from her in a while.

-You haven’t?!

-Excuse me, what?

-A friend of mine. In a similar situation as she is now… or at least I think so. She’s missing though.

-Similar situation?! That’s…

-Missing?! What do you mean?!

I quickly explained how she went silent.

-In hindsight it might have been a bit of my fault. I did somewhat force her to get back and then everything went wrong…

-Don’t blame yourself. I can’t imagine being forced to have someone in your head… I feel that would be a torture for me…

-It’s not that bad… - replied Kon. - You will get used to that.

-I will?! Do you think that I have something inside as well?!

-Well, the two of us. We kind of are a bit invasive.

-That’s not the same! I think…?

-It really is hard to explain or even try and understand…

-Yeah… but back on topic, I have to tell you something too. See, that was not the last she spoke, you know…

-She talked to? Recently?!

-Not really that recently, but later, after you lost contact with her.

-Explain.

-After… well, that mana anomaly, as you called it, I also had visions. Same ones as you. But that was not all, after all this, when I was fainting, I heard her. She was casting a spell of some kind.

-And you heard that? I only heard a scream…

-That was later. Just as I was about to faint. After the visions.

-Hm. And do you remember what that was?

-I am sorry… I don’t. Well, to be honest I was not really paying attention… I was a bit overwhelmed…

-Right. I can’t blame you, sorry. My bad.

-No, no. I should’ve… then we would at least have a bit of a hint to what happened.

-You say another one… but wasn’t there someone with a king there on the island? - pointed out For. - I thought I heard a lot of voices…

-Iloa is not really a physical being any more…

-And the island was empty. Wouldn't it be possible, since we were able to somehow connect to him, that she did as well? And since the other one got connected to Kon, she got connected to Axelrod?

-That’s… hm…

-I feel like we heard just some echoes…

-Well, I did hear those, too - I agreed. - But I heard a lot more people. People that I was able to recognize. I feel like we can’t just base those suspicions on that alone.

I couldn’t help but wonder though. Her theory was plausible.

-We can’t just stay like this forever, though. We need to do something.

-And what exactly do you propose? We are sort of stuck in here. Not like we have an idea of where to look for the rest…

-Well, we now have Kon back. Can’t you use the teleport magic, Kon?

-Yes. But I still need some anchors…

-And we have plenty of those in the library.

-Yeah, I was wondering… why did they leave those to us? Wouldn't it be better for them to just leave us here, stranded?

-And why is that? You think they would be so worried about… what exactly?

-That’s the problem. We don’t know.

-Goldie definitely made sure for us to know that I am a runaway and wanted man.

-Well, yes, it seems like you are a person of interest to him… maybe because you are a remnant?

-Wouldn’t then he be after me, too?

-And does he know about you? I thought you joined Mor after that fiasco under Kalkano and overall revenant thing?

-Hm.

-True…

-Okay. Let’s think. So he knows that I am a remnant. What then? Why want me?

-Maybe to use as fuel? - pointed out For. - I mean, on the island he seemed to use some spell… maybe for that?

-But that meant he found some other way to fuel it?

-Probably. Would that mean that he doesn’t need you any more?

-That doesn’t mean that I am safe. Nor is anyone else. He can change his mind on a whim. And with his power…

-Wait… didn’t at the end say something about “needing more”? Wouldn’t that mean…

-That he still needs more mana? But for what exactly…?

-Another spell?

-Most likely.

-What though…?

-What about the last sentence…? - pointed out Kon. - What did he mean by “I am coming back”?

-Do you think that it has something to do with that spell?

-Maybe…

-I think… you are on a very good track. But let’s continue that somewhere more… comfortable, okay?

-Right. We are still essentially in the basement.

We left the tower and the whole wing of the island, again returning to For’s quarters.

Before we left though, I took a good look at what was left of the place.

Some things changed. Or rather some were missing.

Like the contents of the storage room, or rather storage floor. I was pretty sure that when last time I was downstairs, there was a lot more to the contents of the boxes and all. Right, they were mostly looted, sure, but there were still some things left.

Not now.

Everything was empty. Shelves, boxes, everything. Even random herbs were gone too. And it was not like someone took it while we were preoccupied. Besides the fact that no one was here besides us, there were… some remains. Familiar remains.

A faint hint of ash. The same one I always left after draining things.

Same thing with potions on the main floor. Bottles were empty and the shelves were now full of containers that had nothing, not even a hint of magical aura within.

I told my observations to my companions. Kon wasn’t really sure what to think of it, and For was definitely worried.

Without much of a debate though, we deduced that it was probably because of ILMA. After all, she did make me find those infused potions and fruit. And since they were not so keen on believing me about her “perfect mathematical ability” they just assumed that she made a miscalculation.

Truth be told, I also thought that was the case.

She came a long way from a simple intelligence that she was back in the MIRE, and he definitely evolved. Be it for worse or better, her abilities changed as well. If we add the fact that she now lacked access to everything she was built up on, it was definitely looking like it was indeed the case of a mistake.

For some reason though, something was not sitting right with me about that explanation. I didn’t really give it much of a thought, though. Instead I decided to focus on the current problem, Axelrod and his… ideas.

But before that, I had to set a few things right.

First things first, we took Goldie with us. After a brief discussion we decided to stop trying to jail him, after all every time we did that we eventually had to get him back again to ask ILMA some questions.

While she was now also accessible through Kon, it might have been an unnecessary risk, but we decided to go with it anyway. Since there were three of us, including two remnants and on top of that the fact that he wasn’t able to use magic, having him under constant watch was a better idea than just shoving him in some deep cell and trying to forget about the issue.

At least that’s what For said.

I kind of agreed with that, at least partially. I wanted to keep an eye on him too. But mainly I wanted to have him near just because he had the closest connection to Axlerod out of us all. If something was to go wrong, I was the one that had the most power and knowledge to stop it. Me and Kon maybe, since he now had some help from ILMA. And maybe Iloa, if we were to believe that she still somehow was inside his head, just like he said.

We soon found ourselves back in For’s chambers.

-Remember, a good while ago, I mentioned a few things about my past.

-You did. What do you suddenly need to remind us about that?

-Cause it’s important.

She gave me a curious look.

-Well, what about it?

-I told you that I come from a different world. With different technology, or rather more advanced technology, but similar magic.

-Yeah. I think we already come to terms with that, seeing… her…

She gestured towards Goldie.

-Yes… There was also that thing in the capital… - nodded Kon.

-Right. You remember. There were some remaining pieces of technology that had somehow made its way with me here…

-Was that the thing that Goldie somehow got? That he gave to Felix?

-Precisely. While I honestly don’t think it was Goldie who got it, it was most likely his brother. Who is missing right now.

-That’s… Hm.

-Yeah. That’s my first thing I would like to tell you. Axelrod has a good idea about that technology and is collecting it.

-We knew that already. But didn’t you say that it’s impossible to use it here?

-I said it’s impossible with our current resources. But I am not the one who owns a country.

-That… is concerning.

-Still, isn’t it hard to do…? - asked Kon. - You said that you have no idea how to rebuild those things that you need… and you were with miss Iloa back then. And you said even if you did it would be useless…

-I was assuming that, considering that I had no resources. And no time to really try. And that’s what Axelrod had in heaps.

-But he now is busy… or at least he was supposed to, with elves and that war of his… Right?

-I said “had”. See, even if he was to have infinite resources, he still was just one person. Those things are hard to produce. Even basic materials can take years to make, especially if you are the only one working on it. And if you make a piece, it’s not like you magically can speed up the process suddenly.

-So we are safe, right? There is no way that he can finish whatever he was trying to do…?

-”I need more…” - For said, remembering the words we heard. - You think that had something to do with that? The materials, or whatever, that he needed?

-I am not sure, but that’s not the problem. I think… he already finished what he wanted to.

-Wait, wait , wait… - For shook her head. - I don’t get you. First you say that you need impossible amounts of time to finish, now you say that he’s already done. Like, it sounds like you need more than a lifetime to accomplish something like this!

-That’s what the problem is. More than one lifetime. And do I have to remind you what we learned about Axelrod and his lifespan…?

-Immortality…? - she gasped. - You really think that’s possible?!

-I have no reason to doubt her. But that’s not what I think that actually is… see, I think I know who he really is.