After one night, Ali learned that he overestimated what he and Qeday could achieve through one night. It was true that Qeday could make objects of any size and shape. However, the issue was their communication. He simply couldn’t easily share his idea with Qeday, at least not during the heat of the battle. Therefore, this wasn’t an ability he could rely upon when his life was in danger. Like his trap setup ability, he needed more time due to needing a lot of planning and preparation.

“I’m sorry I’m so useless,” apologized the whelp after their training session.

As the training took place, Dreu could see the lack of progress was taking a toll on the whelp. It was almost as though Qeday blamed herself for all the failures.

“Give it more time,” said Ali with a smile on his face. “We only started working on this today. You have no idea how much time it took for me and Tian to achieve any level of teamwork during combat.”

The air serpent flew between the two of them and began describing how useless Ali was. By the end of the air serpent's explanation, the tears had stopped for the whelp. The teenager shook his head as he waited to wake up.

Glad they are all getting along! We’ll need to stick together if we hope to get through whatever nightmare awaits us in Naeleph.

Upon waking up, Ali quickly washed up and searched for Aok. The man was searching through some crates in the courtyard when the teenager found him.

“How was your sleep?” asked Aok as soon as he noticed Ali’s presence.

“Sleep was fine,” said Ali as he quickly rehearsed how he would share his discovery with the man. “I have some intel that might be of use.”

Ali claimed that Tian overheard some cult member conversations but he didn’t think it was important at the time. After a good night's sleep, he decided to share the findings should it aid them in what could befall the city. The teenager then mentioned evil spirits that could have escaped the caverns following the death of the toad dragon. As for their intentions, he wasn’t certain what those could be. Since he had to hide Qeday’s identity and his summoner realm from Aok, Ali couldn’t very easily say everything with certainty. After sharing what he rehearsed, the teenager waited for the man’s response.

I hope he doesn’t sense that I’m partially lying to him and believes what I’m saying.

“Thanks for sharing,” said Aok. “What you shared matches what we learned about the cavern so that’s at least confirmation for our suspicion. As you said, we don’t know their intentions and that’s what makes them dangerous.”

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The man told Ali to keep what he knew a secret from the others. He emphasized that this was a battle the five of them had no part in. At least, he hoped the five of them didn’t have to get involved given how dangerous the whole thing was.

“Promise me this,” said Aok when the mood suddenly turned very serious. “If things go horribly wrong, follow these instructions and get everyone out of the city. Your escape will be challenging due to the war but it's better than waiting for death here.”

The man walked up and touched Ali’s forehead with an index finger. The teenager felt something entering him but he couldn’t make sense of what happened. Aok simply said that it involved one of Ali’s secrets before the man went back to work.

One of my secrets? What does Aok mean by that?

Ali! You might want to come and take a look at this!

Tian’s voice was not what Ali expected after the supposed transfer of something. He briefly entered his summoner realm where he stood before a big crate. He looked to Tian.

“Did this just enter here a moment ago?”

“Yes,” replied Tian. “I was just flying around as exercise when this popped out of nowhere in front of me. I charged straight into it so I informed you after I recovered from the collision.”

“I don’t see any signs of damage. The crate must be a lot sturdier than you.”

“I can vouch for that.”

The duo then got to work in finding a way to open the crate. After several minutes, the two of them concluded that there was no way except for forcing it open. Sadly, Ali couldn’t stay there for too long as he must appear like an idiot to anyone staring at him. There was a reason why he generally only visited the summoner realm when he was asleep in bed.

“I will keep trying,” said Tian. “Maybe we missed something like a keyhole.”

After leaving the summoner realm, Ali rushed to the kitchen to help with the preparations. As he worked with Lorn and Miniya, the teenager began wondering about Aok’s background. He had never heard of such an ability as the one he experienced when Aok sent him the crate into his summoner realm. The fact that the man had something that could send them out of the city also raised a question.

If he had such a way, then why hasn’t he used it? Or is there a terrible price that’s needed to unlock the crate?

Ali hoped that he never had to discover the answer to his question. However, he also couldn’t get the Aok’s words out of his head or, rather, the tone when he spoke those words. The man sounded afraid for the first time since he met Aok. The fear was genuine and, if someone as strong as Aok could be this afraid, the teenager couldn’t imagine what they were facing. Qeday went to rest after their training so she wasn’t present for the crate or additional questions. Now, he understood why the whelp told him that simply knowing would make people have regrets. At this point, the idea of being kept in the dark didn’t sound so bad.

Knowing me, I probably wouldn’t be content with being kept in the dark.