"So, my Lord..." The voices spoke into my ear, "That happened."

"Indeed it did." I agreed, "Quite the unusual set of events, but they ultimately helped us reach home faster."

"We must admit, flying is definitely faster than sitting on a creaky boat all day." They thought, "Seeing as it's been nearly a thousand years since we died, we're quite surprised no one thought to create an air faring mode of transport."

"About that." I recalled, "My friends Lune and Issei explained such a concept just a few months ago. They called it an airbike."

"So a bicycle that flies?"

"Apparently not. It is a machine that runs on electric energy and uses large propellers to lift off the ground." I explained, "That is how it was described to me, at least."

"What is this... electric energy?" The wind blew gently into my ear.

"Energy produced from the passing of electrons."

"Energy can be harvested from death?"

"Not that passing." I shook my head, "To put it in layman's terms, it is the energy produced by say, lightning."

"Lighting energy..." They thought to themselves, "Now this sounds like something properly from the future! What can you do with it, my Lord?"

"Oh, electric energy makes all sorts of difficult tasks look easy." I happily explained, "In essence, energy can be converted into many other forms, with electric energy being the simplest to convert and work with. Instead of lighting a candle or torch, you can simply use electric energy to turn on a lightbulb!"

"Wow, simply by sexually arousing an unheavy plant bulb, the technology of the modern day allows for light to be shed..." They admired the notion.

"Not that light bulb." I corrected them, "Though I am surprised you did not see the work of electricity for yourselves by now."

"The closest we can think of is that weapon Navi used to slay the beasts from afar."

"Right, it makes sense in a way—For the entire time you were here: You were on an old boat, in a city during the day where no streetlights were lit, and in a forest. None of these have any electricity in them." I recollected, "By the way, the hunting rifle Navi used is not based on electricity, but sulphur."

"Again with the futuristic words, my Lord..."

"No no, sulphur most definitely existed in your time." I shot back, "I read many history books in order to learn more about the Raamic race, and I very distinctly remember coming across the word in them."

"Who wrote those books?"

"Cob McDanaghan, Godday Froul and Vin Mister." I said with a smug smirk, "I remember reading their books like it was yesterday, there is not a chance that I am mistaken."

"Ah, so the Carmenians." They sighed, "In other words, the very people who wished to slay us and make sure we were forgotten by history."

"...Oh, I understand what you mean now." I realized, "But wait, just because their ancestors wished for that does not mean they themselves did. Throughout countless generations many things can change."

"How come?" They asked with a tinge of anger in their voices, "If all of the Raamic race got exterminated, then who would live on to tell the tale of our benevolent exploits? What good would come out of an Empire committing genocide on us but then writing about how good we were? They knew barely anything about our culture!"

"...The Abyssals knew, did they not?" I asked.

"Excuse us, my Lord?"

"The Abyssals, the ones that were born in Abyssus Solis, but did not believe in the Sun God." I continued, "I believe they existed even in your time, but were just heavily shunned by you. Even still, if an insignia was the only thing that divided you, then surely the Carmenians left them to live, no? In that case, the Abyssals were the ones who told the world your story post mortem."

"Those heretics did...?" The wind sounded flabbergasted.

"Yes, I am certain..." I nodded, "So in conclusion—Yes, sulphur was most definitely a word at your time that you just chose to ignore!"

"You're still hung up on that, my Lord!? You were supposed to say something meaningful about not hating others for having a different opinion than you, not nitpick!"

"Is it nitpicking to win an argument?"

"In this scenario, yes! Read the room, my Lord!"

Hearing each other speak only made us fail more and more at trying to stifle our laughter, so before long we were all smiles as we flew across the ocean surface. The seagulls did not look to be all that tired, most probably thanks to the Raamans' wind blessing. At this rate, we might even make it before dinnertime tomorrow.

"I wonder how Nelly will react when she sees us." I muttered to myself, "Seeing her caretaker descend from the sky, carried by 36 seagulls."

"We doubt that number was important enough to specify a second time." They said, "But indeed, she will most probably fall on her head in surprise. Ah, you said she was how old?"

"She is fifteen." I recalled nostalgically, "I still remember when her father introduced me to her, she was only a measly four years old..."

"If we may ask, what connection does she have with you?" They asked with suspicion, "My Lord, we hope you don't mind us probing into the matter, but it simply makes no sense for you or anyone for that matter to go to such lengths just to protect a single girl."

"She is a friend." I said plainly before thinking about it again, "Well, more like my friend's daughter. But she has shown an interest in studying with me in Simpleton, and so too did her parents, so we struck a deal for me to take care of her if they paid for my tuition."

"That is quite the great value you pulled out of it."

"It was Lune's idea." I chuckled, "In fact, he kind of forced me into it."

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Asleep. It did not even take a few more hours of flying before I felt my fatigue catching up to me again. Even though I slept through the past two days completely, I still found myself rather tired. The walk and battle must have drained me plenty. In any case, I felt safe enough to fall asleep in the seagulls' grasp, and just when I thought I had finally gotten a chance to rest properly...

"Ack!" I hit the ground in front of the dormitories of the campus, "Wuh...? Ow, what happened?"

"...Meil?" Kevin stood in front of me, "The hell? How'd you fall from the sky!?"

"Ah, apologies for the startle. The seagulls must have dropped me." I dusted myself off after getting up.

"The seagulls." He gave me a deadpanned stare, "You know, it's really weird when you make an actually funny joke. I don't expect it and then I fail to laugh, so it just becomes awkward."

"I am not joking." I shook my head, "The voices of the dead Raamans lured me on a ship to Cardina while I was asleep, and there I met a hunter and a talking doe who helped me bribe the seagulls with bagels to take me back here."

"When was the last time you took your meds?" He asked.

"About four days ago."

"You idiot, no wonder you weren't showing up to classes!" He grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me off, "Come on, Nelly must be worried sick about you. Gods know where you actually went to."

Eh? But I did go there! I have physical proof in the form of my overpriced ship ticket I never got to use! ...Wait, I cannot find it! Did I lose it? Or perhaps... Did I truly just imagine this entire adventure due to not taking my meds?

"Voice...!?" I anxiously looked around, "Voice!"

"Dude, stop shouting, we're still in the middle of the street!" Kevin angrily shushed me, "People are looking at us weird!"

"I am not crazy, the voice is real!" I explained in a panic, "The world is going to end soon if I do not stop it!"

"Holy shit, what the hell did this damned illness do to you, Meil?" He looked saddened, "Geez, it's gonna be alright, okay? You'll take your meds and be just fine, so let's just go to your home real quick."

"Kevin..." I looked at him, "Have... Have I gone insane? I cannot make the proper judgment. What I have experienced, I am unsure of whether or not it really happened or not."

"...You're not insane, man. Come on, cheer up." He said without any emotion behind it, "You... You might have tried to end your life by jumping off the dormitory's roof just now."

"And what point would I have in doing that?" I got a bit fussy, "I told you, the seagulls dropped me."

"Meil, we're in the center of the continent." He looked back at me, his Eyes riddled with worry, "Why the hell would seagulls be flying above the campus?!"

"Because the doe asked nicely!"

"Meil!" He shook me up, "Meil."

"What?"

"Please, PLEASE." He looked scared, "Please don't say a word anymore until you take your pills."

"...What all happened in my absence." I defiantly changed the topic.

"Sigh, that's at least better than your crazy talk." He gave up, "In truth, not much. School started, me and Kiria went on a few dates, and Jelena is doing just fine at her job."

"What about Javi?"

"He's been busy with his job at the Library, apparently, so we didn't see each other much." He sighed, "Y'know, I thought it was odd that Nel and Lemmy weren't showing up to school at all, but now I kinda feel like they were just busy looking for you."

"...What?!" I stopped with a horrified expression on my face, "They did not... go to school at all?"

"Nope, didn't see them anywhere at all." He shook his head, "Kiria mentioned it just yesterday, actually. How it's been super quiet lately without those two bickering like an old married couple wherever they went, heheh."

I need to run home. Now.

"Whoa!? Meil!" He got angry after I started dragging him to the house instead, "Hey, slow down, what's gotten into you!?"

"Nelly...!" I shouted, "Nelly's in danger!"

"Dude, it's fine! She's probably just been searching for you like I said!"

No, there is no guarantee of that! Nelly would never neglect her studies, even if I had gone missing! She knows just how important this university is for her, so even if she WAS worried, she would only go looking for me after classes for that day were over. Moreover, Lemmy is gone too, which does not make sense when you understand that he is a member of the student council. Please, please tell me I am wrong in this...!

"Ahh, shit." Kevin looked on at my completely broken into house entrance, "What the hell happened here?"

"Nelly..." I gulped as I began to slowly walk towards the doorframe, or at least what was left of it."

"Took you long enough." Lee angrily shouted from just outside his house, "Man, and here I thought I was in this by myself!"

"Lee! What happened while I was gone!?" I ran to him in a panic, "Where is Nelly?"

"Same place my son is." He sighed before taking a letter out of his pocket, "This was left in your mailbox after the attack. I'm not one to judge you for not being there to protect them, since even I was asleep while it all went down, but whoever it was that took Nel and Lemmy seems to have done so with the intent to lure you in."

"Meil? What business would he have with Meil?" Kevin seemed confused as well.

"I dunno, but it was enough to kidnap both of them and take them to a real far off place." He shook his head.

"But where?" Kevin asked.

Reading the contents of the letter had answered this very question. Apparently, the perpetrator had left an invitation for me to come get them as soon as I could. At the same time as I had read it, Lee said the name of the location they had been taken to. Now more than ever, I am unsure of whether this whole debacle was a hallucination or not...

"Schnell's Archipelago." Lee stated, "They're in Schnell's Archipelago."