Ilomen wasn't particularly wide at this spot; in good weather, you could even see the opposite shore of the lake. So, maneuvering a small but very nimble boat, I quickly crossed the water's expanse and headed along the densely forested shore. Using the mouth of the Swift River as my landmark, I wasn't afraid of missing the spot despite the dark night. Less than half an hour had passed since I parted ways with Felicia when the current, trying to turn the boat away from the shore, indicated that I was close.

And so it was. Rounding a cape jutting into the lake, I turned my boat and, putting my back into it, rowed towards the river's mouth. The peninsula I was looking for, which housed the ruined temple, was also hard to miss. Spotting the characteristic outlines in the night darkness and choosing a suitable place, I landed on the shore. Then, tying the boat to the nearest tree, I headed into the forest thicket.

I walked deliberately without trying to conceal myself, making as much noise as possible so that I would be noticed and no one would think someone was sneaking around. Skirting large thickets of dense shrubs, I brushed against the growth of a rather large fern, which reached up to my waist. Thanks to the Perception aura, enhanced by the orcish belt, I felt a barely discernible magical wave emanate from my touch. It seemed that Arien had ensured that no one could approach the temple unnoticed and had set up a signal network, one of the nodes of which I had triggered. Perhaps this was even for the best. Not hiding, I walked out onto a path visible even at night and, stopping a few dozen steps short of the half-ruined entrance arch of the temple of Magevra, raised my right hand and, waving in greeting, loudly said:

"Hello!"

It seemed the temple was empty, and only the wind rustled through its ruined walls. But my intuition suggested this was a deceptive feeling. Arien was well-versed in Nature magic, and hiding herself with a small squad in the forest was not a difficult task for her. Taking a few more steps, I stopped again and added:

"Friends."

Since this didn't work either, I shrugged demonstratively and simply walked toward the temple arch. The magical trap set on the path just five steps from the half-ruined gates I had noticed in advance. Stopping in front of it, I spread my arms and, shaking my head regretfully, said:

"If I'm untimely, I won't intrude."

Having said that, I began to slowly turn around, pretending to be ready to leave. But I hadn't even turned halfway before the trap in front of my feet dissolved. The air between me and the temple arch trembled, becoming faintly rippled, which brought tears to my eyes, and from behind a half-ruined column emerged Arien.

Today, the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic was dressed for travel. A simple linen shirt with leather patches on the elbows. Sturdy canvas pants. High boots reaching to the knee. A wide, unadorned belt held a scabbard with a long, slender sword, which would more accurately be called an early rapier. Her hair was tucked under a black bandana without any emblem. I caught myself thinking she looked like a pirate who had landed ashore in search of treasure. Despite her simple attire, the girl looked magnificent, and this impression was further enhanced by her smooth, natural, yet very feminine movements. Tilting my head, I couldn't help but stare, feeling a large lump rise in my throat. How I longed to take a step forward. To embrace her. To lift her in my arms. To hold her close.

But...

I couldn't.

I absolutely couldn't.

Not at all.

Stopping just a meter away, Arien, exuding coldness and indifference, carefully scrutinized me. She sniffed, as if I smelled bad, wrinkled her nose, and then smiled. But her smile was not genuine; it was formal, glued on, fake, and alien.

"You arrived earlier than I expected."

These were not the words I wanted to hear. Not these. But after what had transpired between us, I understood her attitude towards me. I provoked it myself, knowing what I was getting into. I understood everything, but why did it hurt so much in my chest? Her eyes were as cold as Antarctic ice, but I still wanted to drown in them. To melt that cold, to ignite the flame hidden deep inside. But even if I managed that, I knew where it would lead. Arien was one of those women who needed to be devoted to entirely, without any reservation. Unfortunately, I couldn't allow myself that. And even if I could... it wouldn't change much, because she was too much for me. Too much in every sense, and one day what happened before would happen again, and I wouldn't be able to bear it. So, there was no point in trying to step into the same river twice. We were different. She was an element, a storm, a whirlwind, an all-consuming passion. And I... I was just a man who had once been unable to endure it for long. A sensible thought, but even it was not enough to bring peace when She was so close, and I felt Her breath. Hiding my true feelings behind a smirk, I bowed in a mocking salute, then stood at attention and said:

"My lady summoned. Your knight has arrived!"

Arien's expression changed, and she abruptly stepped forward. Our heads came close, almost touching. The air around us thickened, forming a soundproof dome.

"You are not my knight!" Where was her coldness? These words carried a scorching heat. "What happened will not happen again. Business relations. Strictly business. Either that or nothing!"

I wanted to say something like "never say never," but holding back this impulse, I nodded, trying to smile:

"I was hoping for friendship."

"Friends don't leave without saying goodbye and don't rummage through your personal things!" Arien snapped, recoiling half a step.

"Friends don't need excuses."

My response threw the girl off balance; she was momentarily lost but quickly regained her composure.

"Your answer?" Her voice was once again businesslike and cold.

"I accept your terms."

Immediately, the Air Dome surrounding us dissipated, and I could hear the sounds of the night forest again.

"I really didn't expect you so early," Arien said, stepping aside, letting me pass as if the tense dialogue had never happened.

"The Gates of Sundbad is truly an amazing relic," I replied.

"I've heard its use is quite expensive."

I almost blurted out something like, "no money in the world is too much for meeting you," but reason prevailed, and I just shrugged. Now, as the initial shock of our new encounter passed, I started noticing details. Arien's eyes were red from fatigue. Her palms were scratched, as if she had been pulling out bushes or throwing stones with her hands. Her lips were slightly chapped, as if she had forgotten to drink. The girl's movements were excessively sharp. She clearly hadn't slept for several days and had been working tirelessly. But even in such a state, she looked just as captivating.

As soon as we passed through the temple archway, Arien clapped her hands, and the remains of the old temple's interior were illuminated by numerous magical lights. At the same time, this lighting was arranged so that it was obscured from the outside by dense, shadowy thickets surrounding the ruins.

The first thing that caught my eye was the numerous colorful strings stretched across all the ruins. Not one or two, but dozens, if not hundreds. They formed something like a three-dimensional diagram of connections, where similar elements were linked by threads of the same color. Sometimes several threads led to one image or symbol. Just stretching all these threads would require considerable effort, and the amount of time spent on preliminary calculations and identifying the connections marked by the threads, I couldn't even guess.

"Careful," said Arien, noticing my surprise, as she carefully stepped over the stretched strings.

I felt the presence of two more people nearby, thanks to the shadows, as soon as I passed through the gate, but I only saw them after the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic gave a sign, and they emerged from their hiding places.

"Jacob, glad to see you again." Circumventing the strings, I approached the earthling and shook his hand.

"And I am too," replied the former research associate, quickly adding, "Thank you for the advice." Casting a quick glance at Arien, he did not continue.

I didn't know the second earthling. I hadn't seen him in this or the Last Cycle. He looked completely ordinary. A European of average height and build with a mix of Arab blood, thick black hair, and dull, almost faded brown eyes. The only notable feature was the large bald spots, which were atypical for someone so young.

"Raven," I introduced myself.

"I've heard of you," the young man said with a strained smile, holding a wooden board with several sheets of paper attached to it. "Farabi."

"Mathematician?" I asked, nodding at the paper in his hands, covered with some graphs and diagrams.

"I taught the history of algebra." Without specifying where he taught, Farabi looked away, as if uncomfortable being so close to someone.

Spinning around, I spread my arms wide and said, not hiding my admiration:

"You've done a tremendous job." Turning to Arien, I bowed and added, "In your notes, it didn't look so complicated."

"We had to restore a lot..." Jacob began to reply, but, catching Arien's stern look, he immediately fell silent.

The girl gestured for me to come over, and when I approached, she pointed first at one of the wall bas-reliefs, then at the damaged floor beneath our feet.

"I assumed that the basis of the ritual was a circle. But you corrected my notes, transforming the circle into a spiral. When I came back here, I measured everything again and was confident that you were wrong based on those measurements. But then Farabi pointed out that the floor stones had shifted due to a mudslide, and if we restore the original pattern, it's closer to a spiral, which matched your corrections."

"It was just an educated guess," I shrugged, pretending that it all somehow worked out on its own. "In local beliefs and rituals, the Spiral holds much greater sacred significance than the circle. Moreover, I was puzzled by the slight 'shift' in the drawings you had depicted."

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"Be that as it may, you were right. I checked your comments again and eventually concluded that you were right about everything." She folded her arms across her chest. "It's simply amazing how you could piece everything together so accurately from my fragmented notes! Translating my drawings into three dimensions, using only your imagination. I never would have thought that such a thing was within human capability. Incredible!"

"Um-m-m." I spread my hands as if apologizing. "In reality, it's much simpler. On my way to Katiyer, I was descending from the Great Ridge. To avoid getting lost in the woods, I, of course, followed the river, guided by the rule that a river always leads to human settlements." Catching her gaze, I nodded. "Yes, I had already been here before our first meeting. I spent several hours studying the ruins but didn't even think that all these bas-reliefs, drawings, and statue fragments held any secret. Only after finding your notes on the table and comparing them with what I had seen, did I realize that these ruins held some secret. A secret that you, unlike me, were able to discern."

This kind of explanation considerably calmed Arien down. I don't know who she took me for earlier, perhaps, like Miranda, for an agent of the questers? But now, after she heard my explanations, even her gaze changed, and her right hand slipped off the hilt of her sword. Smiling tensely, the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic led me through the temple. She guided me along the threads and explained the connections. A couple of times, she did it incorrectly, and I "in doubt" suggested my corrections, which she immediately agreed with. This assured me that it was a kind of test. After half an hour of such a thorough tour, I stopped and asked:

"Apparently, you managed to fully restore the entire ritual and even understand what it is for. Something related to redistributing a person's predisposition to one magic or another?" I hoped I didn't overact, and my thoughtful remark didn't look too artificial.

"We really put in a lot of effort," Arien replied and formally bowed to her assistants. "And yes, you are right again in many ways. We have restored a lot, almost everything. As for the essence of the ritual, we have some disagreements."

"Much, but not everything," I caught the main point in her words. "Is this the reason for my summons?"

"You yourself wrote that if any difficulties arise, to contact you."

Her entire demeanor showed that if she could solve the problem herself, she would never have asked for my help. Since she did, she was in a complete deadlock, from which even the help of Jacob and Farabi couldn't get her out.

"Looking at all this," I once again gestured towards the many dozens of threads, "I'm not sure I can help. You've already done so much." Here, my gaze caught on one detail that I didn't remember from the Last Cycle. "Just a second."

Leaning over the stones and shards that had apparently been moved quite recently, I traced the connecting threads. My throat went dry. Looking up at Jacob, who was standing right at the main cluster of the threads that interested me, I asked:

"Is this what I think it is? The leader must be at least one step higher on the Spiral than the other participants in the ritual?"

"If you trace these connections." Jacob's fingers touched a couple of threads, then he pointed to a preserved section of the wall with remnants of an image. "It becomes obvious."

In the Last Cycle, I hadn't heard of such a condition. But! Whether I had heard of it or not wasn't so important! Because Arien, who conducted the ritual back then, was at least a couple of steps higher than everyone else. So even if that element of the ritual wasn't restored and known, the condition was still met! But now, as I surpassed the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic in ascending the Spiral, this was a major blow to all my plans!

Now, I had to choose what was more important. Should I continue to progress through the ranks as quickly as possible, but in doing so miss the Ritual of Redistribution of Halves, which was so crucial for my future development? Or should I consciously slow myself down until Arien overtakes me and still undergo the ritual? The choice of the second option was complicated by the fact that if I stayed at Wootz for too long, I risked falling under the condition of Erasure, as stated by the questers. And in general, neither option was what I wanted! But life is such that it doesn't ask if you want a particular turn of fate or not. The road of life sometimes just turns without your consent. One could even say it was fortunate that this connection was found. Because otherwise, my participation in the ritual structure, when Arien and I were at the same Rank, could have led to a critical failure and the death of all participants! There was also a third option. To ascend to Opal as quickly as possible and become the leader of the Ritual myself. But something told me that with my abilities in magic, if I initiated the process, I'd simply be torn to shreds by the energies passing through my body. So, I dismissed that option almost immediately.

"You don't agree with our conclusions?" Arien asked tensely, misinterpreting my pensive mood.

"I think everything is correct here." The words came out with difficulty, as I was thinking about something entirely different, deciding how to proceed in the future.

"I see." The girl smirked. "I understand what's bothering you. You also wanted to undergo the ritual and become a participant."

"It would be foolish to refuse such an opportunity." I didn't dodge the question, knowing it was pointless. "Such ancient, lost magic... And to pass it by?" Straightening up, I looked directly into the eyes of the future goddess, and she, understanding what I meant, slowly nodded.

"Is this the payment you wanted to request for your help?"

It wasn't exactly a question, but I answered anyway.

"Is a payment necessary? Wouldn't my request alone be enough?"

"There are currently twenty-eight members of the Ainuminati." Folding her arms across her chest, Arien spoke. "I'll already have to refuse someone. Including you in the ritual would mean one more refusal to one of my people."

I hadn't considered such a consequence of accepting not only mages but also warriors into the guild. But it was obvious! With the change in admission regulations towards expanding the membership, the number of people in the guild significantly increased and exceeded the twenty-five spots allocated for the ritual.

I looked into Arien's eyes and realized how much depended on my response. If I made my help conditional on participating in the ritual, she would agree, but at the same time, I would lose her forever. I would lose her not even as a woman, but as a future comrade and ally. But if I refused to participate, it would bury my entire personal development strategy! Just a minute ago, I was deciding what was more advantageous for me: to continue my rapid ascent up the Spiral and decline the ritual or to do the opposite. Now, faced with a new choice, I realized that the ranks were not going anywhere. And I wouldn't have another opportunity to redistribute the Talent Stars, making this ritual critically important. However, in any case, with or without me, the ritual had to take place. Therefore, I couldn't throw a wrench in the works because it would hurt many earthlings and jeopardize the development of Arien, one of the key Shards. Choosing between personal enhancement and maintaining relations with the future goddess of Spontaneous Magic, with a heavy heart, I chose the latter. After all, I was not a Shard, and my development was not as important for the survival of all.

"Alright!" I tilted my head back and chuckled softly, releasing the nervous tension with this laughter. "It's my own fault. In my note, I promised help but did not specify a payment for this help. And setting a price retroactively is not my rule. Be that as it may, I will try to help you. At the same time, I will not insist on my personal participation in the ritual. Whatever you decide, so be it."

In response, Arien smiled coldly and nodded.

"In any case, I'll compensate you for all your travel expenses and time spent," she said.

I barely held back a heavy sigh. "Compensate..." Alas, my potential losses from not participating in the ritual could not be expressed in monetary terms.

"Anyway," Arien raised her voice, stretched, and looked attentively at the largest of the remaining bas-reliefs, "one detail escaped our attention."

The girl turned her gaze to Jacob, and the guy immediately started babbling:

"We searched. Turned everything upside down. Checked everything ten times. Found and restored everything that could and couldn't be found." The former research associate looked at Arien and, seeing her nod, continued. "Honestly, I don't think anyone will solve this puzzle just like that."

"You said you inspected everything, turned everything over, and nothing escaped your attention." My voice dripped with sarcasm.

Waving off the ready-to-respond Jakob, I jumped over several threads and found myself at a familiar wall with the image of a round stump, on which the half-erased, almost invisible, image of the Rune of Movement still remained. A light touch of my fingers to the Sign. A quiet whisper. Energy flowed softly from me to the ancient Rune. At that exact moment, the wall that seemed monolithic and solid in this place partially moved aside, revealing an empty cache from which I had once retrieved a kilogram and a half of avalonium. Removing my hand from the wall, I straightened up and looked around at the earthlings, who were frozen like petrified statues. Moreover, Arien was probably more surprised than anyone.

"You said you inspected everything. Found everything." I repeated. "What can I say... Well done!"