Teleri squatted low and inspected the orb on the floor. Its insides continued to swirl as though smoke across the sky, completely unconcerned by what it had just done. Teleri leaned in closer, careful not to let even a single hair touch it.

“Please be careful, Teleri,” pleaded Marina, her voice shaking. “Don’t touch it…”

“I am doing everything I can to avoid touching it,” said the Alaurian calmly. “I am trying to see if I can see Friedrich within the smoke. Perhaps he is trapped inside the orb and can be drawn out.”

“Do you…do you think that’s possible?” asked Marina weakly. She didn’t know whether Friedrich was within the orb, teleported away or something much worse. She did not want to imagine the worse thing, but images of Friedrich’s dead body flashed through her imagination.

“Marina,” said Teleri, standing up. “I do not know what this orb is. I do not know what this orb does. All I know is that he is not dead, do you hear me? Friedrich is not dead. He is somewhere and I am—we are going to find him and bring him back.”

“Right,” muttered Marina, tearing up. “You’re right. We will.”

Teleri walked back over to the orb. “All we need to do is discover how we can do that. Whether it takes us until tomorrow or takes us until you are old and grey, we will bring him back to us.”

“We need to bring the orb out of the temple. There’s no way we can work out how this magic works by ourselves.”

“Yes, but we cannot touch it.”

“No, but he can,” said Marina, twirling her staff around and summoning Shockwave in a crackle of electricity. The lightning elemental hovered in place, awaiting his orders from his mistress. “Shockwave, I want you to carry that orb for us.”

Shockwave floated over as dust and loose rocks swirled around his flickering, electrified form. He reached out his flashing hands and lifted the orb as though he was a solid being. Teleri half-expected him to vanish as Friedrich had, but the elemental remained in place with the Orb of Valskythe cradled within his arms.

“Where do you propose we take the orb?” asked Teleri.

“To somewhere with a lot of learned mages,” said Marina confidently. “Mages much more well versed in the arcane than me.”

Teleri nodded, knowing exactly where Marina was talking about. “That is a good idea,” said the high elf. “But first, we must leave this wretched place.”

Teleri led the way out of the room, past the shed skin of the giant snake with Marina and Shockwave following her. She hoisted herself through the hole in the ceiling and into the chamber above, helping Marina climb up after her. They both looked towards the dead snake that they had slain with Friedrich mere minutes ago, feeling incredibly disheartened.

*

“You return so soon?” asked Grephor, walking down the staircase he created in the cliff.

“It is a matter of great urgency,” said Teleri, exhausted from the three-day journey to the Temple of Sand and Stone.

“Where is Friedrich?” asked the earthen mage, looking along the cliffside path. He then noticed the orb that Shockwave was holding. “What has happened?”

“Can we come up to the temple and talk where it is cooler?” asked Marina, feeling just about ready to collapse.

“Yes,” said Grephor, beckoning them to follow. “Come, come.”

The mage led the three to the temple and ushered them inside. He brought them to a small chamber where a pool of water sat. He picked up two pewter cups from a table and filled them, passing one to Marina and one to Teleri and then gesturing for them to sit down on a couple of stools.

“Tell me everything,” he said, eyeing the orb with great interest.

Marina took a large drink of the water before launching into the tale of the party’s time at the Temple of Valskythe. She told Grephor everything from Friedrich scaling the wall to the battle with the snake and then slowing to a whisper as she told the mage of her dear companion’s striking of the orb.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“…and then we knew that we had to seek advice from someone who may be able to help,” Marina finished.

Grephor nodded silently, resting his head upon his interlocked fingers. “If you will,” he said, nodding towards the table.

Marina ordered Shockwave to place the orb upon the table, upon which both she and Teleri sat back, still not daring to lay as much as a finger upon the polished surface. They had such great fear of the object that they made sure that one of them was awake at all times to keep an eye on the artefact.

Grephor placed a finger upon the orb, making Marina gasp. “I thought as much,” he muttered, picking it up gently in his hands. “Light pressure will not activate its magic,” he said, “but I wonder if it was simply the heavy strike that made Friedrich disappear to…wherever he is.”

“Disappear?” asked Teleri, sounding relieved. “You believe he is alive?”

Grephor nodded, glancing up at her. “I have no reason to presume otherwise, but I cannot say for certain. I do not know the full extent of what this orb is, but I can feel something from it. It feels like planar magic resides within it.”

Marina put both of her hands over her mouth. “Friedrich is trapped in another world?”

“I do not know, but I will strive to find out. Planar magic is not something that most of us are well versed in, but Apprentice Dallon has spent a lot of time studying the direct and indirect links between the earth elemental plane and our own, so he may be able to discern something for us.”

“Whatever can be done, please do it,” said Teleri, standing up. “If Friedrich is trapped in another world, he is helpless without us.”

“Yes,” said Grephor, standing up with the orb. “You may both stay here in the meantime, so please make yourself at home. Marina, you can show Blackjack around.”

Grephor departed, taking the orb with him and Marina finally dispelled Shockwave, feeling a massive wave of relief at not having to expend her magical energy further. With a sigh, she picked up the cup and downed the rest of the water.

“You have shown great strength,” said Teleri, awkwardly patting Marina on the shoulder. “Thank you for transporting the orb for us.”

“You can thank Shockwave,” said Marina.

“He is not really a creature, is he? He is not even a he. Everything that elemental did was an extension of you, so it is you who is owed the gratitude.”

Marina smiled faintly. “I appreciate it,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “It is more tiring than you can imagine to maintain an elemental for days on end. Even when I slept, I was not truly sleeping. It was as though I was in a trance with a lingering part of me standing awake, doing nothing but holding the orb. I couldn’t let anything happen to it…or…”

“Or we may never see Friedrich again,” said Teleri solemnly.

“Yes.”

Marina sat silently as Teleri refilled both cups and placed them on the table.

“Do you really think that about him?” asked Marina.

“Think what?”

“That Friedrich is helpless without us?”

Teleri looked guilty. “I did not mean it the way I said it. I have great care for him, but I believe that he is his own worst enemy. Too many times has he stumbled through dangerous situations only to come out the other end unscathed. Most of those times, he is alive thanks to us. I have warned him time and time again that his luck would run out and I fear now that I am right.”

“There have been times when we would have died without him. Who knows what Namavar and his men would have done to us if we had remained captive for much longer.”

“As I recall, you were the one who rejected Friedrich’s handling of that ordeal.”

“I was shocked, I admit,” said Marina, looking away, “but I know now that sometimes we must do things that we don’t like to live. If it comes at the cost of the lives of the wicked, then so be it.”

“I must ask you something,” said Teleri, folding her arms and looking seriously at Marina.

“What is it?”

“If we discover that Friedrich is dead, what do we do?”

“I don’t want to think about that,” said Marina, shaking her head. “How can you ask that?”

“I can think of nothing but that. I pray that Grephor is correct and that Friedrich is trapped in another plane, but if we learn that that is the case and he dies there, then what do we do?”

“I don’t know. What would you do?”

“I also do not know. I hoped that you would have an answer for me.”

“Oh,” said Marina, looking uncomfortable. “I didn’t realise you were looking for an answer like that…I thought…never mind.”

Teleri walked over to the pool of water and stared at her reflection. “I have spent many moons longing to see my home again, longing to see my brother. I do not have a family left, nor a home I can return to. I do not like saying this out loud, but I believe that I have found the closest thing to a new family I ever could in you and Friedrich. Losing him means that half of my family is gone and that is an unbearable thought. It would mean having to come to terms with loss all over again.”

Marina approached the pool tepidly, looking into the water and seeing both her and Teleri reflected. “We will see him again. You were so confident before we left the temple and now it’s my turn. No matter what where he is, we will see him. No matter what he’s up against, he will find a way through it. We will see him again before I’m old and grey and I believe it will be sooner rather than later. We will do everything we can to assist the mages here, and if they can’t help us, we will find someone who can. If that means returning to Akatfall and going to the Mages Guild, so be it. We will stop at nothing.”

“Yes,” said Teleri, not taking her eyes off her mirrored image in the water. “We will stop at nothing.”

“Can we sleep for a while?” asked Marina, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know if I can stand for more than a minute before my legs give out from under me.”

“Do they have comfortable beds here?” asked Teleri.

“They are monastic mages who live in a stone temple in the desert,” said Marina, letting out a small laugh.

“Is that a yes or a no?”

Marina led the way out of the room. “It is better than having sand blowing into your eyes at night.”

“You still did not answer my question,” muttered Teleri, following her.