I saw the wheels inside Hayla’s head turning every time I asked her a question. She tried to hide it, but she wasn’t telling me everything. And yet I had a feeling that I could trust her. Though the contract did help. I could be certain that she wouldn’t try to hurt me.

“It’s quite the story,” I said. “I wish it sparked any memories.”

Supposedly, I was the de facto leader of this town at the moment. Hayla didn’t know where Lilly was, or what she was doing exactly, but our reign was apparently going well.

“You still don’t remember anything?”

“At least not about this town. But I have another question. Why kings and queens?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when I think of kings, I picture them ruling vast lands, with multiple towns. A kingdom that consists of only one town... feels wrong. Doesn’t it?”

“Kingdom?” Hayla asked in confusion.

“The lands ruled by a monarch.”

“I don’t know what that is. ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ are just titles for Alarna’s rulers. Actually... I’ve never thought about where they came from.”

“Hm...”

At times, it seemed like Hayla and I weren’t speaking the same language, or as if we came from opposite ends of the world. Things that made perfect sense to me, she had never heard of. And the information and events she recounted I had no recollection of. However, while my memories weren’t reliable, I was fairly certain that the facts that popped into my head were correct in some shape or form, even if my fiance was of a different mind.

“Can you tell me more about that woman then? Lilly was it?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve only met her once. She’s a Sourcerer, like you. And she’s smart. The way she presented her powers during her speech back then was impressive as well. I also heard that both of you beat the strongest guard in town.”

“Now that surely can’t be true,” I said, chuckling. “I’m not a fighter.”

“I’m certain it’s the truth. The guards didn’t talk about anything else for days. It’s basically the reason you have them under control. You demonstrated your strength to them during these matches, as well as during another beast incident.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was very sure of being something of a magic engineer, not a fighter. How could I have opposed guards and beasts?

“That’s also what these scripts are about, aren’t they?” she said, pointing at something peeking out from under my sleeve.

Scripts? On my... I froze momentarily. A bad feeling washing over me, I slowly pulled up the fabric around my arm, revealing a slew of scripts on it. They weren’t encoded, they were written in ink, and most worrisome, they were of course entirely fueled by my internal mana. Oh no... I checked my other arm in a slight panic, and it was the same.

“No, no, no...”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, watching me uneasily.

“I thought... But I’m... Hayla, I had my ritual... right?” I stammered.

“Yes, a few months ago. Initially the result was inconclusive, but when you were reassessed, you were declared a Researcher. Though you became a Sourcerer in actuality.”

A Researcher? Someone who primarily utilizes their brain... That makes sense. Then something happened, and... “I awoke...”

“Awoke? What does that mean?”

I peered into her eyes, trying to tell whether she truly didn’t know about this or whether she was just unfamiliar with the term. Given her lack of knowledge regarding magic users, however, and her saying that the healer was the first of its kind, it was very possible that it was simply new to her.

If this is all new territory, is it possibly what I researched? Did I... decide to become a magic user no matter what?

“I think I’m not a Sourcerer...” I said. “Awakening means becoming a ‘fake,’ as you called it. You’re essentially able to do the same things as magic users, but it comes at a cost.”

Picking up on the despair in my voice, Hayla’s frown deepened as well. “Is it that bad?”

“At least it’s not good!” I snapped. “Why did I do this...”

“Can you tell me more about it?” Hayla asked curiously. “What’s the difference?”

“That’s difficult to explain,” I said, distracted, while studying the scripts on my arms. “Most of this seems like it’s for creating water and shooting it out at high velocity. At least I understand how I was able to fight like this.”

Water... And there were no magic users I could’ve studied... Oh! I probably looked into the water sources! I received my Calling and used whatever knowledge I got out of it to learn more about magic. I think that makes sense. Maybe. At least I feel an immense curiosity about the topic.

I was certain I wouldn’t have become an Awakened on purpose, but it was possible that I didn’t know about it before it happened. The knowledge about scripting and magic users was there now, but what if I learned it all through traditional means? Or at least most of it. Of course that opened up the question of where I learned it from, but I couldn’t possibly answer it with the information I currently had.

“Can you tell me what the problem with being a fake is then?” Hayla asked, breaking my train of thought.

Naturally, she was curious about this after I just told her that being one was not good.

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“Well... First of all, you need a bit of luck to survive the process of becoming one in the first place, because your body will fight that new power. And afterwards you’re bound by the energy you can produce on your own. If your body can’t handle it, it will shut down, which might kill you instantly. But even if you’re careful, you will not have a long life... because you will be consumed from the inside. Mana is not supposed to be used like this. Although...”

The words had flowed out of me without even thinking about it. Only once they were said, I processed them myself, and things didn’t quite add up. I was still here, but my brain told me that awakened humans wouldn’t last long—a few weeks at best.

“You said I was a Sourcerer before I left town, right? Two months ago?”

“Yes.”

“And the others?”

“Shadi just became a healer, and Lilly came later as well, but the others appeared with or shortly after you.”

Five people, of which at least three seemed to be Awakened, and everybody was still going strong. Maybe I couldn’t fully trust the data in my head after all.

“Hm... You know what, forget what I said.”

I decided not to worry about it for now. I had too little information, and I felt perfectly fine. Focusing all my attention on this at that moment would’ve been entirely pointless if I couldn’t do anything about it anyway.

Hayla didn’t readily go along with my request, however. Confusion on her face and worry in her voice, she pressed me about what I said. “Wait, you just implied that being a fake is a death sentence. Are you... going to be okay?”

“I honestly don’t know. If what I think is true actually was true, I should be dead already. Maybe we shouldn’t take my vague thoughts too seriously and carry on for now. Though I definitely won’t push my luck on this.”

“Alright...” she said with a conflicted expression.

I wanted to ask what was wrong, but before I could, a female voice echoed through the corridors.

“Tomar!”

We both turned in the direction we had been going in. In the distance, we saw a one-legged woman, standing in the hallway, being supported by a guard with a lamp in hand. After yelling out my name, she started hopping our way, with the guard having trouble supporting her while keeping up.

“Wait, not so fast!” he said.

He ended up holding her back more than he was helping her. A few meters in, she let go of him and kept going straight for me at an impressive pace. It was remarkable, but the closer she got, the more worried I became about how she was planning to stop. Focused on how happy she appeared, I didn’t realize until her last vault that her plan was rather straightforward: her arms wide, she jumped into mine at full speed. I had little choice but to embrace her, if only to prevent both of us from falling over.

“Whoa!” I exclaimed as I caught her and let the candle holder fall to the ground.

“You’re awake! Are you okay?” she asked, hugging me tightly.

“Uhm... Yea, I’m okay.”

“I’m so glad.”

Glancing at Hayla a little helplessly, I noticed her analyzing the situation. It didn’t seem like a common occurrence to her. Rather as if she had just realized something.

After a couple of seconds, this unknown woman finally loosened her grip on me and took a hop back, though we held each other’s arms to help her stand. By then, the guard arrived too, and his lamp lit our surroundings up well enough for me to see her face. I found myself staring for a moment as I studied its details. She was very pretty, but there was also something else that I couldn’t quite place. Something special. It was drawing me in, but when I noticed a resemblance to Hayla, I thought, That must be it.

“Oh. Are you the cousin?”

The sparkle she had had in her eyes disappeared in an instant. “The... cousin?” she asked.

“Berla,” Hayla interjected. “Tomar lost his memories. He doesn’t remember anyone.”

“You... don’t know who I am?” Berla asked.

“No, I’m sorry.”

To say that she looked shocked would be an understatement, and I had a difficult time understanding our relationship. She was over the moon that I was okay, even more so than my fiance, and she seemed heartbroken about me not remembering her.

“It didn’t go as we thought then...” she mumbled, before continuing with determination. “Do you know who you are?”

“We’ve been working on that,” Hayla said.

“Yea, she told me a little about myself,” I added.

There was an awkward pause during which the cousins stared at each other. I was very obviously missing something. I might have thought that there was something between Berla and I, but I was absolutely certain that I wouldn’t betray someone I liked, and there was irrefutable evidence of me and Hayla being engaged.

Maybe Berla is my ex or something? Hayla might not have known about that... It would explain this interaction at least partially. It’s probably better not to stay too close to her in that case... right?

“Here, let me...” I started and moved her arms to her left, towards the guard, so he could take over supporting her again. I tried not to look too much at her while doing so, but her utter disappointment was difficult to miss. She didn’t say anything though. Instead, the guard addressed me.

“Tomar. Are you still able to fight?”

Of course that’s the guard’s first question...

***

“Arax!” a wolf shouted as he ran through a cave, coming to a sudden stop right before stepping onto a carpet, laid out on the ground of a larger space. Panting, he fixated the silver-furred, humanoid wolf, sitting at a table a few meters away. “Something appeared near that town!”

“That’s your report? Something appeared? Be precise,” Arax growled without turning around to face the lookout.

“I would... but I don’t know what it is.”

Arax sighed at this particular beast’s inaptitude. “Describe it.”

“It looks... like a big door. But there’s nothing behind it, and it doesn’t open. Humans and beasts I’ve never seen go in and out though!”

Her ears twitching, Arax finally raised her head and glanced behind her. “A black gate? With red lights in it?”

“Yes! That’s the word, a gate! And there are twenty lights!”

“A dungeon...” Arax said in wonder.

Even discarding this newcomer, her underlings were too young to know these objects. She had been around for long enough to remember, however.

“Magic is returning... Did they allow someone to get the Calling? No...” Arax sneered. “I’m guessing someone messed up. What do you think, what are the odds that the new scripter has something to do with this?”

“Uh... I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about that.”

“I know, I know. Don’t worry, you’ll get there.”

Arax fell into thought. She got rid of Miles and there was little doubt in her mind that Tomar would do her bidding after what happened. Scripters needed time to polish their talents, and she was ready to give him a few weeks to develop more advanced scripts. Only then would she have truly gotten a step closer to her ultimate goal. That was assuming that Tomar was the only scripter, however. A true magic user was even more valuable. And while she technically didn’t know where this human was, everything that happened recently seemed to revolve around Alarna and this group of awakened humans. She had to look into it, though there were various potential issues to consider.

Getting insecure about the prolonged silence, her underling eventually spoke up. “Arax? Can we do something to help you?”

At least he’s eager to please, she thought. “Go back to monitoring Alarna for now. I will join you once we’re done here.”

As she said this, she stood up, revealing a male human to the young beast. The man sat on the other side of the table, bound and gagged. He couldn’t have done much, even if he wanted to, but he wisely chose to be submissive. He didn’t even dare to look at Arax directly.

“Oh, and don’t approach the gate,” she continued. “You might very well die.”

Pleased by having received a new order, the wolf barked out happily, “Yes, Arax!” and left the cave.