“Have you covered the basics?” Dr. Gaia asked as we entered the side room. She leaned against a black slab in the center of the space with her arms folded and her face scowling.

Donovan shrugged. He walked past Gaia towards the slab and laid his hands on the surface. “I told them enough, now they need to see.”

Dr. Gaia raised an eyebrow. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, then added, “Are you sure about this? I mean… it’s our lives at stake here, not to mention the fate of…” she bit her lip as worry lines sketched across her face.

“Yes, because as you said, it’s our lives at stake. That includes the boy; it has from the moment he bonded with the master tome.”

I wasn't sure how to take his words, but Valentina took my hand again, squeezing as she took in a deep breath.

The doctor nodded as her features softened. Then she met my eyes with a penetrating stare. It felt like she was looking into my soul, that she could see every one of my doubts. Her gaze made my skin crawl, but I tried to swallow my fears and hold her gaze, to look strong.

Then the doctor frowned. “I know you’re right Donovan, and Solari would agree, but I can’t take that risk.” She stood up straight letting her arms fall by her side as she moved past the professor to get to me.

“For now, all you need to know is that your spell tome was meant to destroy the founders. But in her current state, she’s no more useful than a paper weight.” She sighed as she grabbed my arm, leading me to the main room, along with Valentina who was still holding my hand.

“Get out Dexter, and if you don’t want to die, listen to your professor.”

“No!” Valentina asserted. “We won’t go and we won’t do as you, or anyone else, says without first knowing why. If you need me, then you need Dexter and you will tell us exactly what it is that you want from us before we do anything else you suggest.”

Her fierce, warm eyes pinned the doctor in place. Gaia shifted her gaze to Valentina and their eyes met for several long moments. Gaia's lips trembled as she ground her teeth in silence. She looked almost ready to burst with rage, but her temper calmed.

Stepping aside, she sighed, “Fine, but hurry up before I change my mind.”

As we entered back into the side room, Gaia muttered, “Mother’s holy light, guide me.”

It was an awkward phrase that seemed as asinine as trading points for a chance to die, or checking every beast and pet shop in town for glow toads. If Donovan prayed the same way, it might explain his behavior.

Gaia shut the door behind us saying, “What you’re about to see is…well it’ll speak for itself.”

Walking between us, Gaia took our hands and placed them on the black stone.

When Gaia touched the stone, the world went black. Images and voices rushed by me so fast I couldn’t make sense of them. I was sure my mind would implode from the torrent of sensations.

Then it all stopped.

The darkness faded and a brilliant light came into focus. She was trembling, wrapped in a ratty brown cloth and covered in blood. Her aquamarine hair clumped together with thick, wet clots, but she was still the most beautiful person I had ever seen.

Gaia's voice spoke directly inside my head saying, "The woman before you is a founder, Don’t be fooled by her frail appearance.”

I approached the girl, extending my hand, only it wasn’t my hand. It wasn’t my voice either when I asked, “Ma’am, are you alright?”

Slowly, she turned, looking up at me with shimmering eyes, vast and fierce as the ocean. In her gaze I saw determination unabated by fear. The way she held my stare was as if she could see straight through me, into my mind and my soul.

She accepted my hand with a smile.

Her touch was…indescribable. The world felt slow, calm, like everything lost purpose and meaning all at once. There was no need to worry or fear, no need to struggle or even to live. I only needed to be. Just for a moment, I had one single purpose and it was the only thing I would ever need to do again. I existed to serve her, to be what she needed.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Right now that meant supporting her as she got to her feet.

I had never known this purpose, but now that I did, I wanted it more than I wanted to draw in my next breath. She was all that mattered, her desire was my reason for existing.

“Magister Maole,” she whispered with all the sweetness of honey and all the power of a gale force wind, sending tingles down my spine.

Magister? Me? That sounded impossible, but it also felt right. Like this was how things were supposed to be.

Then I realized, she said Maole, like Solari Maole. I realized then why my voice and body felt foreign. It wasn’t mine, I was simply experiencing a memory.

“I have an impossible request to ask of you, but you must help me. Do you understand?”

I nodded. Even if she hadn’t stressed the importance, how could I deny her?

A wave of warm pleasure spread over my skin at the mere thought of pleasing her, at fulfilling her desire.

She smiled then spoke again, her tone like silk and her voice like velvet. “Thank you Solari, you have no idea what your support means to me.”

The words struck my heart like lightning. They left my mind reeling as the memory skipped and jumped. Eventually settling into a shadow cloaked room. The girl wasn’t with me, but my eagerness to do her bidding was undiminished.

Approaching a wooden table, I pulled a capsule from my pocket, a capsule entrusted to me by the goddess.

Ancient runes covered the cylindrical surface. Try as I might, I couldn’t read them.

“Tian, can you make these out?” I asked, prompting my spell tome to personify.

“No.” He said after a cursory glance, clearly underestimating the importance of this task.

I glared at him, grinding my teeth as I said, “Try, please.”

Giving the capsule another look, he touched two runes saying, “I can read these. This says ‘recover what’s lost.’ The rest is just scribbles.”

The device opened with an anticlimactic pop at his words. Inside was a small black stone, and a note. It was covered in more runes I couldn’t read.

I shoved it towards tian, but he shook his head, apparently unable to make sense of it.

I frowned. “No instructions then. Fine, she did say it was an impossible request.”

I took the cube in my hands, examining it from every angle. Finding no obvious use or activation mechanism, I set the device back in the capsule and began sketching the object in hope I might notice something I had thus far missed.

The images sped by again, as Solari spent months studying the cube. He tried everything from dropping it, to running electricity through it. He tried throwing it, setting it in a bath, even holding it up to sunlight and starlight. He even cast a broad array of spells on it, but there was never any reaction.

Finally, he broke down and brought the device to Dr. Gaia.

When she saw it, her jaw clenched and her eyes squeezed tight with concern. Something about the cube clearly bothered her, but when Solari asked her about the device she feigned ignorance.

Solari wouldn’t let it go.

“No…” he grabbed her wrist squeezing with all his might. “…you know something! I saw it in your eyes.”

Gaia wrenched herself away, yelling, “I know that you shouldn’t have it, and the fact that you do can only mean—no, it’s just not possible!”

“But it’s here in my hand, so whatever it means, tell me! I demand it! I can not fail at my task Gaia, please… help me help her. You have to help me, for her sake, for all of us, you have to tell me what I want to know.”

“Who is she?”

Solari realer back, his thoughts spiraling with irritation and confusion as he struggled to find any other way to describe her while also feeling completely baffled at the question. How could Gaia not know?

Clicking her tongue and rolling her eyes, Gaia reached for the cube.

Blocking her grasp, and yanking the device away, Solari roared, “You look, but don’t touch.”

She scoffed, turning away as she said, “Oaky, then find someone else to tell you about it.”

Solari couldn’t think of anyone else to ask. And besides, she knew something so why should he prolong his quest for answers? With resignation, he set the cube on a table beside Gaia.

the images sped by again, only when they stopped, I couldn’t comprehend anything. It was like I was seeing the eyes of a whole different creature that understood the world in terms I couldn’t process.

Nothing at all made sense.

The memory continued like that for what felt like hours, then ended abruptly.

I pulled my hand away from the stone slab, looking at Gaia for answers about what I’d just seen.

Valentina backed away as well, shaking her head, as though struggling to make sense of it herself.

The doctor was in no mood to answer my questions, turning instead to the professor to say, “This was pointless, the boy isn’t aware yet. He can’t go far enough to see what you wanted to show him.”

The professor nodded. “Yes, but it’s fine. He’s learned enough for one day. You still have glow toads to procure and I must finish preparing the boy for the ranking battle.