A good while later we were gathered back in the library, ready to leave to follow Axelrod.

After she heard that we had the means of transport, she immediately stormed off to gather “supplies for the journey”. Besides the fact that I was curious what she meant by that, since we would be there instantly, I didn’t want to let her out of sight, so I followed.

The four of us, because Kon was not leaving my side and I definitely was not going to leave Goldie alone again, spent a solid chunk of time running from one end of the island to another.

First off, she wanted to take with her a bunch of mana fruit and anchors. Sure, both of those would be handy, but that was also the extent of what I thought we needed, period.

Of course, looking for them didn’t come without issues.

Anchors were easy enough, she just grabbed the whole book she checked earlier and called it a day.

I wanted to call her out and remind her that we were going to a pretty damp area, that is even if everything went right. If something would malfunction, say the portal be a bit off-track, we’d be down in the drink. Sure, it wouldn’t be a problem to me and I would be able to save both of them if needed since we would be far enough to not be under the influence of the suppressing field of Red Edge, but I couldn’t really say the same about the book. It would definitely get destroyed along with our tickets back here.

I didn’t really mind not coming here again, but I would definitely prefer to have a way to get back to a somewhat safe place.

I wanted to ask her if she didn’t have some other, more waterproof, maybe something from her room could work as an anchor, but she just shook her head, saying that was not necessary. I did remind her of water again, and she just showed me a small sack that she got from her room.

It looked pretty familiar. Besides the fact that it was almost identical to the one I remembered Jacob having, the enchantment on it was also pretty obvious.

It was just like my old bag, but even better. Not only it had been enchanted with resistance to elements, it also definitely had some space-warping properties, as she demonstrated as the whole book disappeared inside without even touching the leather.

I guess that was good enough for me.

The second item on the list, the mana fruit, proved a bit more problematic.

At first she wanted to get them from supplies that were in Eise’s part of the island, just to remember that it had been sacked. And the remaining were used by me just recently.

Instead she had to dig through the whole of her tower, plus the guest rooms, just to find a handful of them.

Hell, it looked like they were pretty old too… I think?

I am not sure if those can spoil or something, but when I took a peek at them when she found them, I barely was able to recognize what I was looking at.

Besides the fact that they were small, wrinkly and ashy-gray, their mana signatures looked barely more than the residue that was constantly hanging in the air.

I guess that had to do.

While looking for those, I got reminded about my other arm.

We found it, surprisingly, in one of the guest rooms.

I am pretty sure that I had Goldie to blame for that: he must have had them both with him when he wanted to “intimidate” me, but for some reason decided to leave it behind.

It was hidden under a bed even. I am not sure what the hell he thought, but finding it was a piece of cake: I didn’t have to even use my enhanced senses, Kon did it for me.

I considered taking it with me, but I had a hard time thinking of a way to take it safely.

I was no longer sure about it being completely inert: the stunt Goldie pulled was a clear indicator. And I was not going to risk the ability to drain mana suddenly coming back and destroying her pack from the inside.

I seriously was considering breaking it into smaller pieces to make it easier to transport, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I mean, sure it was just a piece of rock, but it was still my arm. I am not sure if it was even possible for us to break it in the first place, since it was Origin Crystal and all that. But again, For did say that it was lighter… and it did look hollow from the outside…

For just gazed at me, pondering this, and without even a word, grabbed a regular linen sack and packed the hand inside, tying it tightly and dropping it inside her other bag.

I mean, sure, that worked, but I warned her, if that was to open or something to happen to it, I was not going to be held responsible.

She just shrugged and continued gathering her things.

Besides those things, she also grabbed with her a whole shelf worth of books. Some from the library, some from her chambers.

I thought at first that those were some emergency anchors, but nope. While they were a tiny bit magical, it was not enough for a teleport spell. I think.

After a closer look, I realized that some of those were just the tomes that she slept on last time… or rather “used to mediate”, like she preferred to call it.

I slowly started losing my patience when she went ahead and started digging through her wardrobes and looking for something else.

Sure, I was not in a hurry, it would be for the better if Axelrod was not breathing down our necks when we appeared on the island, but come on. I thought she wanted us to get this thing resolved as soon as possible?

And not like she could use that excuse: right after we decided to essentially tail him, I made her use her blood bond with Jacob again. While we didn’t see him with Axelrod last time, we were assuming that they were together, since she assured me that indeed it had to be the case.

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He was apparently no longer on that small island, instead was again back in the capital, safely sitting in the palace. Or, well, as safely as it was possible with those attacks.

Yeah, speaking off. Even after Axelrod broke the connection with us, or at least attempted to, back when we shared his vision, we still were having some flashes of certain situations.

Those were short, very, very short, but informative.

Every now and again we were able to see a flash of light and a single image.

First one caught every single one of us off-guard, and while it was not very informative, it was something.

We saw a dark room. Or a dungeon? I am not sure.

What I was certain about though was that it was familiar. And not because I’ve been there myself, it was definitely the same room that we had a glimpse of during our longer vision. Where a bunch of people were staring blankly at a wall somewhere.

Next one was similar. Although there were less people in the room, it definitely was the same place.

Then the next one: an empty room.

But it didn’t tell us as much as the next one.

It was an image of the room where Melle was seen last: and the one whose eyes I was looking through was definitely Axelrod.

There was no mistaking it. While I didn’t spend much time there, the decorations were easy to recognize.

And how did we know that it was Axelrod? Well, besides him being the most likely culprit of those sudden images, we literally saw his face in the mirror one time.

He looked a lot more strained though. And tired.

The next images were less than pleasant.

Those were full of bodies. Definitely elven ones. Some in pain, some already dead, some in the process of dying.

All with the green background of green, wooden chambers or corridors.

Arbo.

That also made us sure that it was safe for us to visit the island.

Whatever was going on in the capital, it was definitely taking all the attention off us. A streak of good luck.

Or I thought so.

I realized that it was actually a double-edged sword only thanks to Kon.

While looking for For’s stuff and overall roaming around the Red Edge, he asked me to help him. To teach him more about magic.

I did tell him that it would be pretty hard without me being able to cast, but agreed nonetheless: I was not going to dig through For’s stuff with her right next to me, and that was not the worst way to kill some time.

It was at that moment, he used a spell, just as I directed him to, and at the same time we got another flash.

We already got somewhat used to seeing gruesome ways of murder that Axelrod was presenting to us, so you can imagine my surprise that we instead seen just the scene that we had in front of us all the time: For’s room, full with random books tossed around and even a piece of a dress, flying through the air.

I want to say we got lucky that he was not looking at any of us, but who was I kidding? It did not take a genius to figure out the source of the vision.

Surprisingly, Axelrod didn’t seem to react.

I mean sure, he only saw an image without much of a context but he was smart enough to figure this out, right?

I expected him to try and use magic again almost immediately, to do… well, something, I guess?

Yet nothing came.

But the flashes did stop.

I don’t have to add that we immediately stopped “lessons” and instead started hurrying For.

She didn’t really need that though. Because of the vision he doubled her effort in looking for whatever she needed and was ready in the next ten minutes.

She never did tell us what she found or not found, though.

-I assume everyone is finally ready? - I asked after we were gathered in the library.

-Yeah. Sorry, I had to… get some things.

-Yes, yes, we know, we noticed, let’s get going.

-Mhm. But… are you sure we should… take him…? - Kon asked, looking at Goldie. - It’s not like I have…

-I know, I know - I agreed with him. - That seems a bit strange, but it’s better to keep him with us.

-I’d rather not leave him in here alone… - muttered For.

-What, you still have some secrets here?

-Maybe.

As she said that, my mind was immediately flooded by her voice.

-No. Nothing. Silence. Quiet. Don’t listen. Stop. No…

Damn, I was just asking that question as a joke, but instead I found out something interesting.

I never intended for that to be a way to get something out of her, but judging by her mana, and the fact that she suddenly started thinking some random stuff towards me, it was clear that it was indeed the case.

I shook my head, annoyed, and Kon started scratching his own forehead, distracted.

-Okay, okay, we get it, just shut the hell up - I silenced her, making her realize that we were listening.

That did not help, instead she started even more frantically repeating the same stuff over and over.

-Look, I get it, you want to hide crap, I don’t care, just don’t distract Kon when he’s about to portal us! Or you want us to land in the ocean? If you must, just target me!

-I…

-Yes, you didn’t mean it, I know. Doesn’t change a thing.

She nodded, and closed her eyes.

It kind of worked…

I mean, the flood of words did not disappear completely, but I could tell from Kon’s face that it either was no longer reaching him, or it just was subtle enough for him to ignore. Good enough for me.

-Let’s get moving before she starts again - I quietly said towards him.

He nodded in answer and closed his eyes himself.

It was not the first time he was using magic, or portal magic even, in his “boosted” form, but I couldn’t help but be worried.

I mean, his crystal was still developing, right? And if we add the distraction of a sudden bonus voice in his head…

I worried for naught though. The spell worked almost instantly. I swear, he was getting more proficient each time. Or at least faster.

The portal appeared, this time on the side of the wall of the room. He even remembered to put it on the same angle so we wouldn’t have to experience random gravitational changes.

I was somewhat expecting to see another flash, but nope.

As instructed though, Kon was not looking at either of us, so we’d leave as little information as possible.

I honestly was surprised that it worked that well. And that he managed to open it without an issue without even looking at it. Good on him.

-Nice. Ladies first? - I asked, gesturing towards For, but she was not eager to be the first one stepping through.

-I don’t…

I was not going to be waiting for the excuse then.

-You snooze, you lose.

And I stepped through.