-But then… if he knows you… - said Kon - wouldn’t it be possible to somehow get to peacefully resolve that? I mean… if he really knows you…

-That’s the one problem. I don’t think he’d even try to talk with me. I’d just get slapped with another spell.

-And how did that end up last time? You survived. Hell, you are now even more resistant to magic - pointed out For.

-So what? You want me to eat his spells and try explaining myself? Tell my life story? Ha. Funny.

-Well, that’s what you did here…

-And we know how that ended up…

-It worked…- she mumbled, but it was clear that she was not convinced herself.

-And on top of that, we can assume that he actually knows how to hurt me.

-What? You can be… well…

I think she forgot for a second that I lost my arms.

-But you can regenerate… it surely wouldn’t have any lasting effects… right…?

-Sorry, but I am not very convinced. I’d rather stay with my body intact, thank you very much.

-And how do you even know he knows how to hurt you…? I thought it was Eise that made this potion…?

-Yeah. And the ingredients were from one of your previous leaders.

-She still had those?!

-Apparently.

-Damn… Goldie got lucky…

-You know, I thought so too… but I am not so sure any more.

-What, you think he’s competent for a change? - she asked, not even attempting to hide her surprise. - What changed?

-Nothing. Nah, I don’t think he’s the one who figured that out, it’s probably all thanks to Axelrod.

-Don’t you think that it was strange that he suddenly had so much faith in himself? Just after randomly trying to scare us with finger-wiggling?

-Pfff.

-Precisely. I felt that something was off… He had to get a message from someone… from his dear leader.

-He managed to contact Axelrod somehow? But you can’t use magic here… I mean, he can’t.

-Yeah. But that doesn’t stop Axelrod from trying to communicate with him. If we assume that he is a revenant, and that is given at this point, it wouldn’t be a stretch for him to know how to hurt someone that is a similar creature as himself.

-That still doesn’t explain how Goldie got to know that.

-Easy. Just like you were talking with me… just like the three of us were talking together. That’s not really being inhibited by the crystal.

-But… don’t you… I don’t know, need to look at someone? To see their mana? Or something? Be relatively close? - she asked.

-Nope. I already confirmed that we can communicate with Kon without needing to see each other. I told you that already. About being close, though… hm…

I stopped to think for a moment.

I never tried to do something like this over a long distance. But I couldn’t help but think, why not? It was…

What was that, exactly?

That was a good question. I never really stopped to consider that. What type of magic did that even use? What was that based on?

With Iloa it was not really a question even. We were occupying the same body, so there was that. With Kon… well, it was similar. He did have a piece of me, so I guess that was the point of connection…

But what about For?

She was neither. The only thing that would connect us was the contract… but wouldn’t that make me read her mind a long time before all this?

I never really tried to, sure, but… hm.

-I feel… like this thing might be based on your magic.

-My? As in personally…?

-Nah. As in elven. Blood magic.

-I thought… it was because of the crystal…? - said Kon, thinking out loud.

-Yeah, but how do you explain her connecting with us then?

-Well… didn’t you say that you also ate a piece of crystal? Couldn’t that…

I almost forgot about that one.

Right. That was a thing. She did have a piece of crystal with her. The one she got from the previous leader of Red Mages. Most likely another “version” of Axelrod.

But that would also mean that she was connected to him, not to us…

Or would it?

If he was indeed a remnant, or at least had a part of a crystal in his body, it would definitely be the same one that I got: the one that exploded back in the MIRE. Meaning that if he was to let her “inherit” the Red Edge, it would also be the same one.

Meaning that the connection was there even before we made the contract. It was there long before everything. Or at least the potential to be connected was there.

I immediately shared that information with them.

Unsurprisingly, For was less than happy about that.

-To think that something like this was with me… That I was connected… He was manipulating me all the time!

-Well, it’s not really a given that he was - I pointed out. - As you can see, you can just live with the crystal and be absolutely fine. Just like the two of us are.

-Yeah, okay, but do you really think that him giving me a piece was just as innocent as you seem to portray it as?

-Okay, you can’t… we can’t even be sure that someone can manipulate someone like this… That’s just my speculation…

-Speculation? Ha. Don’t give me that. I am pretty sure that it’s how he managed to control and get information from and to Goldie. That would explain a lot.

That was a fair point.

That would also explain sudden changes in his behavior.

Just like in the case of Odar.

Suddenly the whole concept of overtaking and all was not that far-fetched. It would just be the same thing that me and Iloa did, although on a longer range. But still.

-Say… I have a question… - started Kon, who was listening intently all that time. - If this all boils down to just having the crystal with them… wouldn’t the whole island be affected? And the whole Red Edge?

-How so?

-Well… Mor said that he thinks that your predecessor was the one who created this island from a small piece of stone, right? But if it was indeed the king, it would have meant that there was a good chance that he used the same crystal… the same one that is in us, right?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

He was absolutely right.

-Well shit, you are right. But I have a better question. If it was indeed the case, what the hell did I do earlier?

-You what?

-I tried to communicate with it, remember? Thinking that I would contact someone, or try to talk with… I don’t know, something.

-Wait… would that mean that you tried to contact Axelrod?

-Yeah… And that’s not all. What does the whole hole in the ground mean? If the target was Axelrod that whole time…

I stopped to think, but nothing came to me. I couldn’t for the life of me think of a way to explain the hole without sounding like an absolute lunatic.

Sure, it might have already been past the point of no return, but whatever.

-I don’t want to speculate, but none of the scenarios I can think of are good for us currently.

-What’s the worst? - asked For. - It can’t be that bad…?

-I am not going to divulge, but every single one boils down to me helping Axlerod. I mean, it wouldn’t be that bad if not for the fact that he was actively trying to hunt me, be it by himself or using his men.

-But it’s the one thing that I can be for sure. It’s not Goldie that gave the information to him… It was me. Or us.

For gave me a look.

She knew that it was not a good thing in any shape of form.

-I… wanted to connect to the crystal. And instead of me using that connection to glimpse into it, it glimpsed into me. And everyone else.

-Well, you don’t have to feel so bad about it… After all, I already was connected to him… - she pointed out.

-Yeah, maybe. But for all we know he forgot about you. After all, it’s been a hot minute since he gave you the Red Edge and all…

-You really think he’d forget the whole project of “creating an artificial Origin Crystal”? I thought you said it was impossible.

-True…

Hm. I know she was trying to just cheer me up, but that instead made me worry more.

If indeed he didn’t forget, why did he let it sit like this for so long? The crystal was definitely already good enough to use for… whatever, really.

Did that mean that he was lacking something else?

That still didn’t answer any questions.

-We still are lacking something important - I said, sighing. - There is no point trying to figure out his motivations without more info.

-Eh… you are right. But what else is left for us to do? - she asked. - Not like we can do anything…

-Well, that’s not exactly true. We at least can try looking for answers. And the first place would be visiting the place where he was.

-You want to follow him? - asked Kon. - But wouldn’t we then risk bumping into him?

-That’s why we aren’t doing that immediately. We need to first make sure that he left for wherever he was aiming for…

-And how the hell are we supposed to do that? It’s not like we have a way…

She realized how wrong she was.

-I see you remembered.

-The ring! Where is…

She started patting herself, looking for it. Pointlessly, I have to add: I already knew that she didn’t have it on her.

-It’s not here.

-It…

She suddenly grabbed her head, remembering.

-I gave it to Jacob!

-Oh great. Well, we at least now know how he managed to get to the island that fast…

-Jacob managed to… It was his job?!

-Seems like it to me - I nodded. - He had a good source of anchors, so getting to the capital was not a problem. The only issue is that he was low on mana, but I guess Axelrod could fix that on the other end.

-Or just use someone else to teleport there… - said Kon. - Wasn’t there supposed to be someone else that was able to cast portal magic in capital.

-It probably was Odar. Or Axelrod himself.

-Well, I know that Mike was not able to use that magic, just like me… but I guess that could’ve changed…

-That’s possible?!

-I mean, that’s just the case of learning words and writing them. So you just need some time and resources.

-So why didn’t you learn it then?!

-Because when the need arose, I had neither. Might I remind you that he apparently has been here for a lot longer than me…

-Weren’t you two caught in the same thing?

-Well… it was indeed the same accident, but I am not sure about time…

-Wouldn’t that mean that you’d have to land in the same place and at the same time? What happened? - For asked, confused.

That was actually a good question.

Before I didn’t ever consider that, but we should, by all means, have landed at the same time. Why did we get split up… and with such spread, to boot? And not in distance, in time!

-Good question. I know that we landed in mostly the same place - I said, thinking aloud. - I found some of his notes and other signs of his existence. Back then I didn’t really think that was him, just some other poor soul that got tossed to the same place a long time ago. I honestly didn’t think he was still alive.

-So wait… how much time passed between that?

-Between our… well, disappearances? Not more than minutes. And if our theories are correct, we landed more than hundreds of years apart.

-Holy…

-Yeah. Weird.

-You think that might have something to do with your crystal…? - asked Kon.

-King was supposed to have one too, so I don’t think that would make sense… - mumbled For.

-That might actually be it… - I replied after pondering for a while. - During the “transfer” I did lose my arm that got replaced with the crystal… I assume that the process of it taking over the wound and closing it was not short… but I never expected it to take a millennium!

-Mille… Damn!

-Yeah… but that would explain why the MIRE was so broken… and overgrown. I always thought that an accident like that would leave devastation in its wake… It did on the other side and…

Wait a minute.

When I woke up and explored the place I landed up, it did look different. Weird and out of place. I did call it a bowl even.

Could that mean…

That my arrival was what MADE the bowl?

Was it our experiment that had destroyed those mountains? Our arrival?

But the place was overgrown… it was full of life…

And full of mana. That would definitely hasten up the process of regrowing… and even boost the fertility of plants…

That would also explain why Melle was so surprised that something was on the other side of the mountain… Even though Mike had come through there and met her, before that it had to be just some mountain range.

Hell, even if he awakened before me, it was possible that he only came back to his senses after the bowl had already formed a new life…

That gave me another question…

If he was indeed the same one that woke up there, wouldn’t that mean that he’d found me?

I was hard to miss, just lying in the ruins. As far as I remembered, I was just lying in the middle of the ground zero of the whole bullshit…

How could he miss me…? You’d have to be blind just to not notice something like that…

Blind…?

I remembered my return to the MIRE with Melle. I already was part crystal, and managed to get a hang on my abilities… and was blind.

Blinded by the mana.

Would that be possible for him as well?

That when he woke up, he only was able to see the blinding light? The area was flooded with it, and since I was in the epicenter, be it mana-exhausted or not, I would’ve been invisible to him, completely overwhelmed by the light of the broken leyline.

Even without that, I am sure that I’d be hard to spot for someone who just had awakened to overwhelming light…

-Damn. You are as old as an “immortal king” or whatever they want to call him now… - said For, bewildered by this revelation. - I mean, I sort of suspected that you were old, but to be older than me…

-Yeah, that’s wild.

-Well, I definitely don’t feel older than usual - I said, shrugging. - Honestly, it doesn’t matter.

-When you thought that we were getting something there’s always something standing in our way… this time a stupid anchor…

-”Our”? You wanted to go with me?

-You? Of course! What, you think that I am going to let you do everything? Those are still my people.

-And I still don’t know where they are.

-No matter. We can’t chase him anyway… - she sighed.

-Well, that might not be entirely true…

-What, you’re going to tell me that you want us to teleport randomly there? Or what, maybe you have some flying spell?

-I do.

-You kidding me.

-Nope. But that’s not what I had in mind. Wait, you wanted to fly there? Where the hell do you think they are?

-You saw that on the map…? - she said, confused. - It’s near the edge… and we are near the edge…

-Well, sure, but…

Actually she had a fair point. When I looked on the map, I didn’t really pay attention to where the Red Edge was… hell, I am not sure if it was on the map at all, since you know, the secrecy and all that.

-If it was on land, I’d say it would be less than a day worth of travel - she said. - But of course, if you add the water and the overall problem of edge existing…

-Yeah, I get you. But while you have those ideas, I had something else in mind. See, we still have an anchor.

-Yeah, you gave it… wait, a second one?

-Yep. It’s just as Jacob said: those were the wedding rings. And we had both.

-Then what are we waiting for?!