“A dream in the forest, hold onto it by morning. Search for the meaning, don't ignore the warning.”

-A saying of the Kozan elves

Battus was still shaken up from the encounter with Pentagonal Prism. He was sure that if it weren’t for the pit separating them, things would've ended much worse for all of them.

He thought about everything else that had happened up until that point. Meeting Mercury and Tintin, taking the job. The shipwreck, and being washed ashore. The mad dash through the jungle. Falling into the cave. Meeting Crystal, and then, the tense conversation with Penta.

It had been a long and trying day. But thinking back on it… it was still the best time he’d had in recent memory. Bonding with Tintin on the ship. Seeing Mercury survive and the wave of relief that had washed over him. Escaping Penta’s razing of the forest by the skin of their teeth. Crystal’s enthusiastic guidance through the cave. Just thinking about having to go back to his boring job just for the money… well, it made him kind of nauseous.

The injuries from being washed ashore and falling into the chasm ached with a dull pain, bringing him back to the present, walking along with the others. He didn’t hurt as much any more, but he was going to have dark bruises all over, and his arm was going to have a nasty scab.

But even more than that, he realized that something else had happened that cut him even deeper.

“Mercury…” Battus started, then trailed off.

“Battus,” Mercury addressed him without turning, continuing to walk/shift forward through the cave. The path had gotten a lot more constricted, the tunnel mostly bare dirt walls at this point.

“I need to ask you something…” Battus started.

“You are wondering why I was able to recognize Pentagonal Prism. Most carbon-based species are limited in manipulating their own bodies, but Silicarites are able to shift our limbs to suit the task at hand, such as Penta’s tunneling clubs. I anticipated your question regarding our shapeshifting, and no, we are unable to use our mineral restructuring to change our outer shapes to become unrecognizable. To shift to such a degree risks exposing our cores, or worse, death.”

“...uh… no, that’s not what I wanted to ask you about. At all,” He decided to ignore Mercury jumping to conclusions about what he wanted to say. “Look, I know you probably didn’t mean anything by it, you were just doing whatever you had to, to get Penta off our backs, but…” Battus trailed off again, finding it difficult to bring up his point.

“Correct,” Penta stated matter-of-factly, or Battus assumed so, anyways. Most of the monotonous translations lacked meaningful inflections.

“But… you aren’t planning on leaving immediately once we find the Heart, are you…?”

“No. Once the Crystalline Heart is acquired, we will need to return to the surface, and then secure transportation.”

“And then, after that…? You’re just gonna leave me behind…? And Crystal, too…?”

Why would Mercury stay, Battus? Unless… you can think of some reason it should stay here? On Illudia?

Mercury paused for a moment. “...yes, I suppose I would leave the planet. I would need to get the Heart to a safe galactic depository, so that Penta would not have an opportunity to acquire the artifact.”

“So once we find it, it’s all over,” Battus couldn’t help but let disappointment creep into his voice.

“Your task will be complete, yes, and the remaining gold I promised will be yours.”

Battus stopped, and everyone else in the group turned to face him. “Well, I thought this adventure meant something to you, because it’s become more than just a job to me,” Emotions suddenly welled up in his chest, his eyes blurring with tears. He wiped them away, continuing. “And… if you’re going to just call us square and end the adventure once it’s all over, fine. But I wish I’d known that you were still planning to end the mission once we got the Heart,” Battus folded his arms, not wanting to look at Mercury right now. He felt Crystal float closer to him, a somewhat comforting presence, at least.

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He didn’t expect this hunk of rock to understand human emotion, and even he could barely process what he was feeling right now. Everything had just spilled out suddenly, his feelings and words tumbling out even before he knew exactly what they were to begin with.

“Battus,” Mercury stated.

“...y-yeah…?”

“You wish to continue with further missions? With Tintin and myself?”

“W-well… yeah… I think. I’m not sure, I just know that I can’t stay cooped up in that stupid little booth in the Galaxy Warp any more. That’s not where I’m supposed to be,” Battus explained. “I don’t know where I belong, but it’s not there. Everything that’s happened today, it's shown me that I’m capable of more.”

The group was silent for a while, the stale cavern air accentuated by the lack of movement from any of them.

So… you’re not sure where you belong, Battus?

“No, I guess not,” He sniffled, wiping his nose with a jacket sleeve. “...sorry. But being out here made me realize that I have a whole planet, a whole galaxy to explore, and I barely even left my tiny little corner, except to recite passages of historical articles to tourists from 50,000 feet.”

…I need to show you something. Crystal floated on ahead, lighting up the next area of the cave. The path widened, opening up to a decently-sized chamber.

The group followed her glow, flying straight over a precarious winding path that started near them, then sloped upwards to reach a wide platform at the far end of the room. The natural dirt walkway sloped steeply on either side, making narrow precarious switchbacks up to a nearly perfect-looking pedestal looking above the room. A huge boulder sat in the middle of it. But it wasn’t a boulder, it was a cracked open geode. And inside that was a perfectly heart-shaped red crystal, cut with facets as if it were a charm dangling from a necklace. But it was enormous, at least 12 feet tall from what Battus could tell.

“What… is that…?” Battus walked forward, almost in a trance. That had to be it, the Crystalline Heart. The thing they’d been searching for. But… that wasn’t even the strangest thing about this room.

This place… he knew this place. Battus was sure he had never been here before, absolutely sure, so sure he would bet an entire year’s wages on it. It was hauntingly familiar. Every rock on the path leading up to the pedestal was right where he remembered it would be, every pattern of its surface memorized in his mind. The group climbed up, finally reaching the spot where the Heart rested. And then it hit him.

“I've been here before, in a dream. This exact spot, right here,” Battus pointed to the ground, looking around, shaken.

“I’ve been here in several dreams. Why the hell…” Battus’ voice raised, pointing suddenly at Crystal. “Why the hell was this place in my dreams?!”

Look, Battus, there’s a perfectly rational-

“No, Crystal, you look. You’ve been in our godsdamned heads this whole time, and I was perfectly happy to write that off as some kind of whimsical fae thing, or whatever. But the reality is, we don’t know a damned thing about you. Have you been messing with our memories this whole time? Huh? Getting us to implicitly trust you, pulling the strings to get whatever it is you want from us?” Battus shouted accusation after accusation at Crystal.

“Battus, please-” Mercury gestured towards him, trying to calm him down.

“No, you shut the hell up too,” Battus’ finger swayed over to the Silicarite. He had finally gotten used to the tone of the translator, but now all it did was aggravate him more.

His whole body was trembling at this point. He wanted to throw up. He swiveled, turning between Crystal and Mercury. He wanted to yell something at Tintin too, but couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Instead, Battus held his head in his hands, trying not to hyperventilate. He pounded a fist against the outer shell of the boulder, the geode that he had somehow known implicitly held the Heart, even before he got to this island.

Okay, okay… I owe you an explanation. I owe everyone an explanation. Battus felt an ethereal sigh. Crystal flew over to the heart-shaped gem, floating in front of it.

…I am the Crystalline Heart.

“...impossible,” Mercury stated. Battus looked up, watching the pink-red glow reflecting off the inside of the geode and through the semi-translucent crimson quartz.

No… it’s not. I can explain everything I know. Let me tell you about what happened here, one hundred years ago.