The Wardens took another day to conclude their investigation.

During that day, Zan and Jiehong made a good deal of progress in uncovering the lodestones of the area.

Sweeping out while carefully marking their progress, the two friends swept the whole local perimeter from the command center in the middle. They covered an area of about ten miles. Not the largest, maybe, but enough for them to map half-a-dozen lodestones. Doing it by foot, though, was an exercise for each of them.

Back in the command center, having been called once their mapping had reached its end, the Wardens announced their discovery.

“We have concluded our investigation,” the Screen Master said on behalf of himself and Sigma-Prime.

“Fantastic. What did you uncover?” Zan asked. Jiehong stood back, letting everything unfold.

“Unfortunately,” the Screen Master said, “we could discover nothing.”

Zan let the words hang in the air. They uncovered nothing?

“How is that possible, Screen Master?”

“In my many years of service to the order, Sigma-Prime and myself never have seen an anomaly like the one your described. We did everything in our power to reverse-track the phenomena, but after all we did, we only could work so far back within the primeval folds of the Backroads to confirm the existence of what you saw for ourselves. However, one discovery made the investigation worthwhile: we could confirm the intrusive path you saw and interacted with is now fully gone.”

“So, does this mean it will come back?” Zan asked.

“To answer your question, I would need more information on how the intrusive path formed to begin with. It might come back. Considering this strangeness, however, I will hope the means by which the intrusive path formed cannot repeat itself, and this unusual beginning to our order’s use of the Backroads is merely a quirk of the machinery. For now, I can say this: the Backroads territory so far claimed by our command center has no corruptions inside. As we expand our means of travel with the Backroads, by imbuing for lodestones, we will keep an extra eye on any irregularities.”

The Screen Master’s words didn’t exactly calm Zan. Though they neither excited him. He only heard the response as a big old goose egg. Nada. Nothing. Wasted time.

“What do we do now?” Jiehong said, stepping in after clearly having seen the topic at hand of reaching its ends. Zan thought Jiehong also saw his growing frustration.

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“With our investigation of the Backroads phenomenon concluded, along with the stability of the Backroads itself secure for the time being, Sigma-Prime and myself recommend resuming military operations. Using the Backroads as our staging ground, we have plotted a route to take your directly where Whiskey marked the ruins slated for investigation,” the Screen Master said to Jiehong.

Nodding along, Zan said, “Okay, let’s plan out this mission.”

There wasn’t actually much to plan about the mission. More like the Screen Master telling them the route, the rundown.

With the basics done, and the basics being as simple as ‘use the backroads to move toward their home village, then advance into the undergrowth by foot.’ That was it.

“I can’t wait to show you this Backroads stuff,” Zan said.

“Oh, neither can I, buddy,” Jiehong said. “You make it sound so wild.”

Entering the white chamber in the secondary basement, Jiehong’s eyes widened.

“Huh. Smooth white. How… different?” Jiehong said of the new locale.

“First, Simulacrum will fill the room’s runes with power. Watch,” Zan said, Jiehong watching intently as he heard the sounds of power filling the room.

“Next, get ready for a ride!” Zan said and could hardly finish before the power reached a certain level of concentration and thrust them into the Backroads.

“UGH! What was that?!” Jiehong spat, feeling, likely, he was about to hurl.

“That was us slipping into the Backroads, see?” Zan said, giving a grand waving motion with his hands to show Jiehong they were in a new place.

Finally, looking at his surroundings, Jiehong’s eyes further widened anew. “This… is the Backroads?”

“Sure is… weird as heck, isn’t it?” Zan replied.

“You could say that again.”

“Oh, but we shouldn’t gawk too long. The Wardens explicitly said we should move from point-to-point as quickly as possible.”

“Why is that?” Jiehong said, his curiosity piqued.

“They didn’t really say… or I don’t remember if they did, really. They made it sound like other things live in the Backroads, oh… they also said to stay on the path, don’t wander off it. Not that we can wander off. I tried…”

“During the weird encounter?” Jiehong asked, the two now getting going to wherever their destination was.

“Yeah. I can’t describe it too well. But it was like tapping against the glass of a fish tank. I tried to move, but a force repelled me. It wasn’t like I tried very hard to leave the path, though. I wonder if I would have broken through if I really tried. Guess we won’t know! Best to not experiment with forces we don’t know about, right?” Zan said.

“For once, I agree with you, friend…” Jiehong said, clearly distracted by the strange interplay of light and dark in this new land of eternal twilight and ordered trees.

Seeing a point of glimmering light, Zan remembered the Screen Master’s words. They were looking for a destination point, and it would be like a glimmering light.

This must be it, Zan thought, seeing that destination ahead of them.

“We are heading over there, by the way,” Zan pointed out to Jiehong.

“Oh! Incredible! How did I miss that?!” Jiehong exclaimed.

“This place plays with your senses. Time moves weirdly. Shoot! I forgot to tell you, Simulacrum cannot communicate with us here, so we really shouldn’t linger.”

This last sentence piqued the attention of Jiehong. “He can’t interact with us? Not even monitor us?”

“No, why?” Zan asked, not sure where this all was going.

“Zan — let me ask you a real question. Do you think the Screen Master is good or evil?”