It was an early morning. A loud alarm woke Nick up. His brother was still sleeping. Sometimes it seemed like not even a nuclear explosion would be a valid reason for Sam to get up. Nick shook his twin’s shoulder.

- Come on! We have important plans for today! – he almost screamed.

- Just a second… - Sam turned away from his brother.

- We must go!

The boy didn’t react. Nick unsuccessfully tried to wake him up a couple of times more, then he put two fingers on his brother’s shoulder and pronounced: “Fulgur Percusserit!”. A light electricity shock made Sam jump from his bed. Sometimes the end indeed justifies the means. At least, the boy was awake now.

- Hurry up! I bet, Arcada has already set off! Ada will also soon be here! – Nick said strictly.

That was right. Earlier this morning Arcada and Listra had left the Nulla City. Now it was the time for twins and their friend to go too. The boys packed some water and snacks, some paralyzing and explosive potions just in case, and peeped inside their parent’s room. Luisa and Finn were still sleeping.

- Make them think, that we are staying with El for the weekend. They can rest. – Nick whispered to his brother.

Some minutes later the boys were already waiting downstairs. Ada appeared almost immediately, right on time. She still seemed to be very upset but made her best, not to show her feelings. Yet, the twins, even insensitive Sam, could clearly tell how she actually felt.

- Are you ready? I will try to open a portal not far from the main market. – she said drawing some signs in the air.

The portal brought the trio right to the gates of the market island. The boys looked around. They were standing on a large piece of land, covered with thin turquoise grass, in front of a large marble gate, decorated with small silver statues of funnily dressed people. The island was situated in a swamp, and many wide, wooden bridges were connecting it to other small islands covered with neat, marble houses. The kids went through the large gates and walked along a curvy market street. The boys checked all the shop windows with sincere interest. There was only one thing that really disturbed them. Mosquitoes. Those annoying little creatures constantly reminded all three, that they were right in the heart of a swamp.

- Why did they build such a big market in such an unsuitable place? – huffed Sam killing one more of those small insects.

- Well, it is the closest Terra to many rich in resources and goods dimensions. That’s why many transport corporations have their stations here and transport their products through Terra Mercatorum. – explained the little witch.

- The closest… I still don’t understand, we saw the map at Terra Pluviae, but I still don’t understand how this all thing with teleporting and Terras works. – Nick rubbed his head.

- Hmm…You can imagine Terras as globes hovering in a place outside of time and space. Some globes are closer to each other, some are farther. The amount of magic powers you require for a portal depends on the distance between Terras. That is why transport corporations can’t directly transport their goods to most buyers. Such a portal would take an incredible amount of energy, so they use Terra Mercatorum as a staging post before opening portals to other Terras.

Ada finished the phrase and stopped in front of a small marble house. The inscription on the window read: “Bernardino’s Herbs Shop”. The trio entered the small building. It was rather dark inside. A cramped room was lit up by four or five candles. The kids could barely move around as the whole space was occupied by countless tables and counters. An old lady heard a doorbell and hurried to meet her customers.

- Welcome, my dear! – she kindly smiled at the children and waves with her green from grass hand.

- Good morning. Could You probably help us? We are looking for The Grass of the Last Scream. – Ada made some effort to sound polite.

- Oh… That is… I am not sure, let me check… - the lady looked around.

All the counters were filled with glasses and boxes with dry or fresh herbs. Some bunches of plants were placed on the tables, probably for drying. The old woman checked few shelves, desperately trying to find, what the children needed.

- I am very sorry, my dear. Not many treasure hunters go to the Silent Valley nowadays… Maybe you could take Burkund grass instead. It can replace The Grass of the Last Scream in many potions.

- I don’t think it will work with something else… - Nick sounded slightly disappointed.

The kids said Goodbye to the old lady and went further trying to find The Grass somewhere else. Nevertheless, two hours and around seven shops later it became clear: no treasure hunters went to the Silent Valley recently. The trio bought some exotic fruits from tropical Terras and settled on a wide border of a pompous, richly decorated with silver birds fountain at the central square.

- So, what do we do now? We can’t return with nothing… - Nick said thoughtfully.

- I don’t know. If nobody here has The Grass, then nobody in all dimensions sells it… - Ada replied sadly.

- And can we go to that valley ourselves and just get The Grass there? – asked Sam.

- I am not an expert, but it feels like no treasure hunters go there nowadays for a reason. – his twin sounded disapproving.

- Well, yes, the Silent Valley is not a safe place. It is inhabited by Kardaks. Those are dangerous predators; they are completely blind but have very good hearing. – explained Ada.

- Okay, this doesn’t sound too bad. We just need to be quiet. – Sam said with enthusiasm.

- It will be difficult. The Grass sprays an acid juice when one cuts it. That is why it is called The Grass of the Last Scream. If the juice gets on your skin, it will hurt a lot but if you scream, even just for a second, Kardaks will attack you.

- Okay, this does sound pretty bad… But we can’t… - started Sam.

- I know. We can’t return with nothing. I guess, we should go… – Nick interrupted him.

- Arcada won’t like it…I am not sure how reasonable it is - Ada hesitated.

- But we can’ fail others! – Sam insisted.

- I mean, if we are careful enough, it can work out… In the end, we prepared some potions, and you are a powerful magician… - his older twin tried to find decent arguments.

- Yes, I am powerful… - Ada admitted proudly – But it is still dangerous for you two…

Sam gazed closely in the eyes of the little witch. He knew few more good arguments and the brothers would win.

- We all owe El and D. And we are no coward treasure hunters! We were trained by a cool and strong magician. – those were not the most persuasive arguments to risk their lives but the only ones he could come up with.

- Well…Okay…But we must hurry up then. We should get to the Silent Valley before it gets dark, otherwise, we will lose our only advantage. – the girl gave up.

- And we must prepare well for the trip. – commanded Nick – we need thick clothes to protect our skin as much as possible and suitable shoes to walk quietly.

- We can buy it all here and then travel to Terra Ferrum with the teleportation train. I would prefer to keep my magical powers on maximum if we go to a place like the Silent Valley. – concluded Ada.

The kids quickly finished their lunch and ran back to the market street to buy everything they needed. In a small, beautiful house built out of blue marble, they bought itchy woolen pants, pullovers, and scarves. Next to the blue house, there was a shoemaker’s shop, where the trio found proper shoes with soft, cloth soles. The boys packed all their purchases into their backpacks and the little witch led them to the teleportation station.

The children walked through the market island, crossed two long, wooden bridges and some smaller islands. Streets were full of busy-looking people in strict costumes, vessels that vaguely resembled old-timer cars and carriages drawn by pot-bellied creatures with six long and slim legs.

Soon the kids arrived at the station island. They entered a huge building made from green marble and glass. The walls of the building were decorated with cast in silver butterflies. Ada told the boys, that butterflies are believed to be able to travel between dimensions as their light, charming but mystic nature is a pure embodiment of magic energy.

The trio stopped in front of a large blackboard. Letters, appearing on it formed into words indicating time and ways of departure of trains. The train to Terra Ferrum was leaving the station in less than 5 minutes. The children quickly ran to the third way.

The boys discovered that trains for teleportation, in fact, had not that much in common with actual trains. Those were long constructions looking like metal boats with glass walls and ceiling connected to each other by heavy chains. The teleportation itself was rather fast. The construction set off, gained speed and in a second, after a bright sparkle, it was already slowing down at another Terra.

Terra Ferrum was a rocky land. Excess iron in the soil colored local mountains and almost all plants in red shades. The kids walked through a futuristically looking, busy megapolis. Streets, houses, and even streetlights here were made of iron and red rocks. Big, strange, iron capsules were sweeping far above at great speed. It turned out to be the most common mean of public transport in this dimension – Magnetic Ways. The Silent Valley was quite far from here, so the children had to take one of those iron capsules.

The trio boarded and took places near a small window. The boys observed the landscape with great interest. The capsule nimbly swept between tall pillars with magnets. Ada didn’t pay much attention. Unlike the boys, she was used to all the different dimensions and their ways of life. The little witch quietly sank in her thoughts.

- Are you okay? – Nick turned to the girl.

- Well… More or less. It’s hard to believe, that somebody from my family is capable of such cruelty. But indeed, my grandmother was a simple accountant, who suddenly got rich in times of Terra Copia rise. Indeed, there was a mysterious fire at the Nulla Archive few decades ago that destroyed almost all financial recordings of that time. Indeed, the coin that Deas keeps still has the trails of Iduna’s power. And indeed, it was her, who hid that dark necromancer at Terra Pluviae.

- You are not your grandmother, though. At least, because now you are helping to prevent the war, not to start it. You found out an unpleasant truth but, eventually, no matter how much it hurts, it helps you to protect those, who really need protection now. – Sam patted Ada on her shoulder.

- That’s right. Maybe, you can later talk to Deas. You can’t fix what had been done 300 years ago but you can help him now. – Nick agreed.

- I guess so… Feels like I have to apologize… I have never done it before, such an unpleasant feeling… - the girl puffed out her cheeks.

The capsule started slowing down and soon stuck to a big magnet frame. The trio was now in a small village far away from the busy city. A bunch of small rock houses was surrounded by vast fields where cattle was grazing.

The children still needed to walk quite far to reach the Silent Valley. It was slowly getting late when they saw the outlines of a bright red canyon. The kids dressed themselves quickly and hurried to the valley. They only had a couple of hours before the sunset.

Nick and Sam looked around. Big, furry creatures were sitting on steep canyon slopes. Looked like they were sleeping. Those monsters had big, powerful bodies of gorillas and heads that reminded heads of bats. Those were Kardaks. The boys examined one of the creatures that was sitting next to them. It had big, ugly ears and muscular limbs. It became quite clear that running away from such a monster was never an option.

Ada raised her hand, signaling the twins that they must stop. She pointed at a field with tall, thick, red grass. It was The Grass of the Last Scream. The boys took out small knives and carefully tried to cut one of the stems. As soon as Sam ran the blade over the plant, an acid juice sprayed around. Even though the kids protected their skin properly and only few drops of the juice landed on their clothing, both brothers instantly felt sharp burning pain. Sam bit his fist to keep silent, squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds, and kept slowly cutting the stem. Nick started cutting another plant, trying to stay as emotionless and calm as he could. But sweat on his forehead gave out his pain and fear.

Cutting the grass turned out to be much more difficult than expected. The stems were very thick, and boys had to stop from time to time when the plants sprayed too much juice. Ada tried to cover the boys from the juice with her bag, but soon enough there was almost nothing left from it. The boys kept cutting. Time passed slowly. They felt like they had been cutting those plants for the whole eternity.

However, it did take them a lot of time. When Nick finished his stem, the sun was already nearing the horizon line. Sam was done as well. The boys silently handed the plants to Ada. She tied the grass with a rope and nodded. It was enough for the potion, now it was time to get out of there. The trio slowly walked to the corner of the field.

Ada was about to open a portal when Sam stumbled a little in the darkness and a small stone rolled on the ground with a loud echo. The trio froze in fear. They heard how the big monsters instantly started moving. Kardaks turned their heads towards the children listening carefully. The kids tried not to breathe. Two monsters jumped down to the ground. Ada raised her hand to create a portal but one of the creatures immediately jumped towards her. It stopped only in few sentiments from the girl and listened.

Nick looked at his brother. Very fortunately, as twins, they both needed no magic to read each other’s minds. Sam nodded. He looked at the knife he was still keeping in his hand and the next second the boy threw it as far as he could. The iron knife landed loudly few meters away from the children. All the Kardaks instantly turned their heads and ran towards the knife. Ada waved her hands trying to open a portal and before some of the creatures managed to jump at her, Nick quickly grabbed an explosive potion from his backpack. The monsters were knocked down by a strong blast wave.

The trio quickly jumped into the portal leaving the furious creatures behind. They teleported to the futuristically looking city. It was very loud. Even now, late in the evening, the streets were still filled with people, hurrying somewhere. The children returned to the Main Teleportation Station and fell on the floor powerlessly.

- We did it! – happily smiled Sam – And nobody had to save us.

- I swear, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life so far. – Ada said reproachfully.

- Oh, trust me, if you keep hanging out with us, this guy will make you end up in even crazier situations. – Nick laughed pointing at his brother.

- Great. Wonderful. Let’s return to Nulla Meridianus. And we won’t tell Arcada what we’ve done today! - the little witch replied strictly.

Three hours later an iron vessel brought all three to the Nulla City.