While I wasn’t able to gallop at full speed, riding was significantly faster than walking. It took me some thirty minutes to finally reach the small tunnel that served as the entry to our home.

When we first arrived in the jungle, we’d searched for a place which would provide enough physical cover for our chest to be hidden, but not so much as to be an attractive shelter for other predators. After hours of searching, we’d found a quite spacious hollow formed in the thick trunk of a tree that looked like a willow. There were no inhabitants other than insects, but those were easily chased away.

In order to hide our little alcove better, a series of protective barriers and magical camouflages were set up in the vicinity, making sure that anyone and anything that could end up in this corner of the jungle wouldn’t be able to get too close. The magical items I used for our protection were, of course, attuned to me and Kai, so I didn’t slow down at all as I reached the chest that housed us.

I opened its trunk and climbed down the stairs to our spacious abode.

“Myriam!” Kai exclaimed, as he saw me come down the stairs. “I was starting to think you’d never come back.”

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” I said, as I placed my bag on the large table we used for reading, “but I did find some very interesting books.”

I produced the three books, including the tales of the northern gods, and placed them on the table for him to inspect.

“Oh, you found books from the north!” he said, his eyes widening in happiness. “I can’t wait to start reading them.”

“I also got the catalog I’ve been waiting for all these months,” I said, as I took it out of my bag. “It just arrived today.”

“You mean the one listing the books about The Divine?” Kai asked, as he flipped through the pages of one of the books.

“That’s the one,” I replied. “I’ll go through it after lunch. You can read this book I also found in the recipes section while I do my research.”

“I don’t really care about recipes,” he said, exactly as I expected, so I threw him the book of Magaer’s adventures. “Hey, why are you throwing… Is this about Magaer? Oh wow! You should have started with that, Myriam. Where did you find it?”

“Like I said, it was on a shelf full of recipe books,” I replied, glad to see his excitement. “I found it by accident. Leave it there for now and let’s cook. I’m starving.”

It took us quite some time to prepare lunch, mostly because Kai wasn’t helping so much as going back to the table and peeking at his new book whenever he could. I couldn’t blame him though. These books had been his life for the past thirteen months. Since I couldn’t take him with me when I visited Yubna or any of the neighboring villages, reading was how he spent most of his time while he was alone.

We had a pretty quiet lunch on our long wooden table and cleaned up quickly so that we could both dive into our books. These were now the favorite moments of my day, sitting with Kai and reading. Alone in our own worlds, yet together.

I started scanning the list of books in the catalog, while Kai was already engrossed in the story he was reading. I found lots of interesting entries but one of them in particular drew my attention more than the others. It was the single entry under the subject of restoring The Divine, and it had a very peculiar yet secretive summary.

This book was supposed to contain spells that would bring deities back in case they were banished or sealed away. I had no idea who or how something like this could ever be achieved and yet this book, aptly named Restoring Deities, claimed that these spells could reverse such a situation. Our own predicament didn’t seem as hopeless now, provided we could get the book.

I couldn’t believe after all this time that we actually had a solid lead on how to unleash whatever force of The Divine resided inside Kai. I flipped the pages to the end of the book and searched through the entries stating where each of the books was located.

If only it was part of a public or even private library, I would eventually be able to take a look at it. Any place south of the Endless Sea would be great news.

I found the entry called Restoring Deities. And the book was… in the monastery at the End of the World. I had limited knowledge of monasteries other than the fact that at some point in time, apostles of the Order had traveled throughout the known world and preached the word of The Divine. I’d never heard of this particular monastery though the name suggested it would be on the southern edge of this continent.

I remembered reading somewhere that the southernmost part of the continent south of the Endless Sea was an area surrounded by mountains in the cold country of Fjalhun and was known as the End of the World.

Being almost sure of our next destination, I read the end of the summary of this book where its story was documented. It seemed I was right in my assumption that the monastery was to the south, as the listing clearly stated that some of the apostles who started from Elysia some three hundred years ago brought the book with them to the country of Fjalhun, where they built a monastery, south of Snjokomu and just north of the Mana Tree.

Ecstatic about my discovery, I informed Kai we would soon be leaving and that I needed help preparing for the journey.

We decided we should start traveling after the sun had set, in order to remain unseen for as long as possible. This should also give us ample time to visit Yubna and buy some additional books since we would be traveling for quite some time. However, we didn’t have enough of the currency which was used in the stalls and shops of the jungle city.

Thus, it was finally time to sell some of the less useful magical items I had created while trying to become better at the craft. Many of my early creations were ideas that Kai had had, and I had simply executed in order to get the hang of attaching enchantments and permanent spells on items. Pretty soon though, I realized not all magical items sold for the same price or with the same ease.

One of the most expensive items I had sold was a crystal parrot which could be animated by its owner into a real one, once per week. The little animal would remain telepathically linked with the person who activated it and watch over a room or building, alerting them in case of intruders. This item was very specific in its use and it took me two months to find a buyer wealthy enough to need this kind of protection.

From that point on, I created less extravagant everyday items which sold for lower prices, but were also easier to craft and sell. With this in mind, I started thinking what would go up for sale and put it into the bag I would take out with me. Kai pleaded with me to let him come with me to the market since we would be leaving this place anyway. This time, since I couldn’t see a reason why I shouldn’t let him tag along, I agreed.

We exited our chest and strapped it onto my steed while Kai took some time to pet his magical horse since he had not summoned it at all lately. We took the road leading to Yubna, and I felt the freshness and excitement of adventure once more. The past year had been safe for both of us and when we set up here, I thought that was what I wanted.

Pretty soon though, I yearned for something to happen. I wouldn’t deliberately challenge my luck of course but I was looking forward to the day that we would be on the road again, preferably to rid Kai of his powers. And it turned out that day was today.

We entered the city and headed directly to the market where I usually traded my magic creations. Kai was always close to me, but I didn’t want him to interact with the traders much, so he remained behind while I dealt with them.