The boiling sea is indubitably the most treacherous in the world. The rain is torrential, the mist ever-present, and the temperatures can vary more than thirty degrees from one nautical mile from another. Falling in the water can sometimes be benign, or sometimes mean your certain death after unimaginable suffering. Only the most experienced of captains dare to navigate this unhospitable sea, and of course, the Trechuite pirates. The sea-faring people live on very hard-to-access islands, their exact position unknown by all except those that were born there. The islands are hidden by the mist and the unleashed elements of the boiling sea, rumour has it that the biggest Trechuite city is named Gorgot. The stories describe it as a place of high criminality and debauchery, containing the heart of the Assinis, being the birthplace of captain Harbetouche, and also where the most beautiful villa in the world is situated, built there to house the most corrupt of the Empire politicians.

Extract of the frontiers of the kingdom of the Imperatrix, third edition.

Despite Nay’s initial worries, going back up was far from difficult or exhausting. She hadn’t expected to be teleported back into the first room of the temple by Trayx, after all. Green Tree was still kneeling on the ground, next to the stairs that led to the calm sea of Trayx.

“Here you go. And thank you again Nay.” Trayx had said that as if there was nothing more natural than to be in an orchard of apple trees one moment, and then in the Hymere jungle the next.

“Oh. Erm, well, thank you too, for all those stories. And please thank Doria again, it really was delicious.”

“I shall do exactly that.”

Green Tree raised his eyes, his gaze fixed on the oldest of the Calis.

“Hoytrrrr Calida.” He bowed to the ground.

Trayx seemed uncomfortable. “Goo, goo. Aber Foret. Striiiiiijiiii tactaaaa.”

Nay was doing her best, but she wasn’t recognizing half of the sounds that the men were doing. She was guessing that the dean of the Calis was a bit surprised to see Trayx, but in his Rreico she mainly felt awe and respect. The rhythm of life of the so-called God of death was only filled with affection.

They spoke in the Cali tribe language for a few minutes, before Trayx finally turned back to face Nay. “You are welcome whenever you so desire. And bring your friend the Duchess of Gite next time, I am sure it would greatly please Doria. Farewell, young Legio.”

“Goodbye, erm, Trayx.”

The immortal smiled, then disappeared in oblivion, his Rreico vanishing at the same time as his entire body.

Green Tree stood back up. He was looking Nay attentively. “Hyn assured me you were going to be invited, but I wasn’t certain. After witnessing your fight with the banshee though, I had few doubts left. Did you get some answers to your questions?”

“I did get what I came for.” Nay answered prudently. “But, I do not know if he told you but…”

“Yes.” Green Tree interrupted her. “The banshees are blocking our way back. Waiting here without my bag is going to be a hassle, but Trayx told me you had an easy way out, much safer, but that it had to be kept a secret at all costs.”

Nay nodded slowly. As promised, Trayx had demanded them to stay silent about the Conqueror’s door.

“When do you want to go? Does Lynn still have things to do here?” Nay did want to see her friend as soon as possible, and also to exit this jungle. But that one didn’t depend on her, more on the advancement of the railway works.

“No, she should be free to leave as soon as possible. You stayed quite a long time in the house of the God. Night is falling though, Lynn went to bed a few minutes ago. Should we wait for the morning? Moving in the night is…”

“Night or day won’t change a thing about what I’m going to do. Well, try to do. I admit that I never actually tried this miracle before. And if I was anywhere else, I wouldn’t even dare use it.” Nay knew that the jungle would hide her magic from the Angels though.

“So, you are going to use the power of the Gods to get us out of our predicament?”

Nay only shook her head up and down once.

“Very well then, if our God trusts you, then so shall I and Lynn.” Green Tree put his hand on the wall and crossed through it without saying anything.

Nay followed his movements, and, effectively, she was free to go through without answering a question this time.

On the other side, the sky was starting to become orange, and the shadows of the sculptures at this time of day were making the nostalgia filled place more creepy than melancholic. They didn’t need to move far to find Lynn, laying down on her travel mattress, put directly on the floor. She wasn’t sleeping, she was using a lit candle to check her notes.

“You’re going to hurt your eyes.” Green Tree reprimanded her.

“Grrrrpppp!” Lynn rose quickly to her feet, almost making her candle fall on the floor. “Are you done?”

“Yes. We saw Hoytrrrr Calida. He told us that we were stuck here, the banshees are still skulking around the temple.”

“Really?” Lynn looked at Nay with renewed respect. “He showed himself to her? And what do you mean the banshees are skulking? Did they not leave?”

“No. The spirits here really hate our traveling companion.”

“Biach. Without the water in your bag, waiting for them to leave is going to be a pain.”

Green Tree looked at his granddaughter severely. “Okrrrittttta!”

“Sorry. But, it’s true though.”

“City dwellers.” Green Tree shook his head in disappointment. “Nay proposed to use her power to leave.”

Lynn straightened herself slightly. “Ah?” Her Rreico was filled with anxiousness.

“You remember that her power is a secret, right?” Green Tree asked.

She nodded.

“Our Calida asked that we protect that secret, and to never utter a whisper of the miracle she is going to attempt to anyone, ever. Do you understand what that means?”

Lynn nodded again, with more vehemence. She seemed a bit peeved off, actually. “Of course I understand what it means. I won’t disrespect the Calida.”

“Good. Get your stuff then, we leave now. Unless you need to prepare something?” He had asked that last question to Nay.

The Legio shook her head left to right. “No. Just silence and concentration. Also, could you put your fingers in your ears so you can’t hear the psalm?” Lynn’s campsite location was between sculptures, but there was enough space to summon the Door.

“Wait a moment, I need to get my backpack!” Lynn interrupted her.

The Legio waited patiently for everyone to be ready, and when she finally saw the two Calis block their ears, she started singing.

“In the penumbra of the unknown…” She focused on her power, it needed to penetrate the words. It was good, for the first verse at least, nothing was different than during training.

“…I abandon…” The most difficult thing was to visualize where she wanted to go. She couldn’t have gone to the Cali village, having barely seen anything there. But she did go to the worksite of the railway road quite a lot, and at this hour of the day, it would be empty.

“…To reach what I never could…” Still, this wasn’t a good place to go. There only needed to be one worker being overzealous, and her secret would be uncovered. So she visualized a place close to the worksite, further down in the jungle, a place where she had stood guard. She visualized the precise spot, a distant path, where you could still spot the torches. The heat there was heavy, and the Rreicos of the animals around were many.

“…I escape what should…” Once she could feel the place, that she could see herself standing there, she pushed her power through the last sentence, and finally opened her eyes.

A crystal and glass door had appeared in front of her.

She turned to face the two Calis, looking a bit aghast.

She mimed them to stop blocking their ears, and when they did exactly that, she tried to explain the next step as quickly and simply as possible. “Take my hand, we need to be touching the door together.” If they weren’t linked with Nay, the miracle wouldn’t work for them. At least that was what Hyn had said. They probably only had a few seconds to use the miracle before the Door would explode into pieces of intangible glass. Nay felt exhausted already, she hoped that using the door wouldn’t make it worse.

“Like this?” Green Tree asked. He was holding his granddaughter’s hand, and the girl looked quite spooked. He was giving his other hand to Nay.

She didn’t hesitate, she grabbed it and opened the crystal door.

The Legio did two steps forwards. It was notably darker all of the sudden. She wasn’t feeling great either, her belly jumping in her throat. But it wasn’t crossing the Door that did that, it was the effects of her diminished power.

“By Trayx.” Lynn let go of her grandfather’s hand, as she observed the door behind her that was beginning to crack.

She gave out a high-pitched scream when it blew up, but, just like with Nay the first time she had accomplished the miracle, the pieces of glass went past her without touching her, and dissipated into the ground like water.

“That…that was incredible. I never even heard about something like that before. “Green Tree was quite shocked as well.

Nay was breathing with difficulty.

The young Cali didn’t miss it. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Just…tired. It demands a lot out of me.” If she had been more honest, she could have said that she was barely standing straight, but the Legio didn’t want to show any weakness before she knew she was safe.

“I can barely imagine what…where are we?” Lynn asked.

“We're twenty yards away from the current worksite if I’m not wrong.” Green Tree was the one who had answered. Nay sighed with relief. She wasn’t looking at things wrong. The dean was correct in his assessment, she saw the torches at a distance. She had succeeded.

The under-jungle was silent. No one was currently working. Nay and the two Calis took the road back to the worker camp, but the way there was quite harsh on Nay, who was trying not to stumble on thin air.

Despite the night falling, the encampment was still well lit, especially for people who exited the under-jungle. Five workers were playing a card game around a fire, and they paused when they saw Nay, Green Tree and Lynn emerge from the depths of the Hymere.

“Oh. Miss Nay, Lynn!” One of the workers stood up. The Legio had met him before, but she was too tired to remember his name. He was one of the guards, a Touched. “Priest Valassian didn’t expect you so soon. I’m going to go look for him…”

“What? Jort, we can get there ourselves…” Lynn retorted.

“I…” The Touched was hiding something, quite badly at that. His gaze went to the side, as if suddenly very embarrassed. His eyes met Nay’s, and he immediately lowered them again.

“We’ll follow you. I’m not going to just wait here.” Nay announced.

The unease in the Rreico of Jort doubled.

Nay scrunched up her eyebrows, but he didn’t feel aggressive, and she was too tired to question his weird reaction.

The man guided them through the encampment, which was completely superfluous, and brought them to the main tent. Nay still didn’t understand why he was looking at her like that. Nothing had changed, the enchantments around the tents were a bit different, and mosquito nets had been placed in front of the entrances.

The God-Touched made them enter the old circus tent, which was empty. “I’m going to look for priest Valassian. If you could wait here, please.” The Touched left very quickly, not waiting for an answer.

“He’s acting weird.” Lynn said out loud.

“He could have offered us some tea, at least.” Green Tree didn’t look that worried. He went to one of the back tables, that contained some leftovers of the evening meal.

Nay sat on one of the chairs, refraining from groaning in satisfaction. Her thoughts were working slowly, and she didn’t even have time to imagine what was happening before the Patrex priest entered the tent.

“You’re here sooner than expected.” He didn’t hide his grimace. “I am really happy you came back safe and sound.” He bowed a short instant in front of the Cali dean. “I apologize, Lynn, Green Tree, but could you leave us? I need to discuss with Ruby in private.”

Nay didn’t like his Rreico at all. He didn’t lie outright when saying he was happy to see them safe and sound, but there was much more worry than relief in his rhythm.

Lynn raised an eyebrow, but when Green Tree lowered his head in sign of acceptance, she followed him outside. The dean had taken a plate full of meat and a glass of water before he left though. Lynn gave a final look behind her when she exited the tent.

Nay turned to look at Horick Valassian.

“You managed to come back quite quickly, well before the estimated date, I…”

“What is going on?” Nay wasn’t in the mood to play that game.

The priest grimaced, not daring to look the Legio in the eyes.

“I…well, a day after you left…erm…miss Trinne disappeared.”

“Excuse me?” Nay didn’t understand what he was saying.

“Diamond worked with us the whole day, then night came and she retired to her quarters. Two of my most trusted men were guarding the tent, but when we checked the next morning, she was gone.”

“What?” The Legio’s voice rose. “What do you mean she disappeared?”

“I do not know, miss Nay.”

The Legio forgot all about her barely being able to stay awake. She stood up on the spot. Her brain was boiling. Had Hyn sent an assassin? No, that was absurd, here? Why? A banshee controlled by a spirit? Even more ridiculous, the tent had been set in the middle of the encampment, everyone would have noticed the beast. Did one of the workers abduct her? Nay could believe that the guards had failed at their job, but Trinne was far from weak and easily kidnapped. Did her friend leave on her own? No, never without telling Nay about it first.

She didn’t understand. She looked at Horick, then left for her tent without a word.

“Wait! Nay! I mean, miss Ruby! We have no idea what has occurred, it could be a Carradin trick aiming at the Jewels, you need to be ca…”

Nay was barely listening to him. A Carradin assassin, like the one to kill Hyn? No, that was unlikely at best. Trinne had spies in the Carradin clans, she would have been warned of such a thing, and she wouldn’t have let Nay leave her if that was the case. The Legio needed to go to the tent. Maybe she would be able to find something they had missed. A Rreico, something? If there was magic involved, could she feel the remnants of the spell?

“Miss Nay!” Horick was barely able to follow her, but in any case, he didn’t seem to dare to stop her.

When she finally reached the tent, the priest’s shouts had brought a few workers out of their tents. It was dark in the encampment now, but the night hadn’t completely fallen yet. The sky was probably the same colour as the calm sea of Trayx, above the canopy.

The Legio paused in front of the entrance. She turned back to face Horick. “Is this a joke?”

“What?”

“I asked you if this was a joke?”

Horick Valassian did a step back. His hand naturally fell on the handle of his sword, through the hidden pocket in his priest garb.

Nay continued fixing him, and he did one more step back. As he wasn’t answering her, she entered Trinne and her's quarters.

“Hani?” She whispered softly.

“Nay?” Trinne’s voice echoed in the darkness of the inside of the tent. An oil lamp was barely lighting up parts of it on a table next to where Nay stood.

She saw her friend sitting in a corner, on her bed. She was looking at Nay with horror. Her hair wasn’t combed, her eyes were red from having cried too much, and she had deep bags under her eyes, pulling down on her face sacrilegiously. She was only wearing her nightgown, her knees were touching her chin.

She seemed so little, so lost.

Nay blinked, at first terribly relieved. The Rreico hadn’t lied, her friend was here. There was something different, though. Nay was feeling her own Rreico in her friend’s. But something else overtook her brain, that, despite her fatigue, woke her up entirely.

“Can you…” Trinne seemed to want to say something, but Nay heard something else behind her. A voice, freezing and furious.

“Is this a joke?” Nay’s voice echoed outside, where she had been moments before.

The Legio heard the Patrex priest shout as if he was a young noblewoman encountering a mouse.

“Nay?” Trinne asked.

“Are you okay? What have they done to you?”

“Can you see me?”

“What have they done to you?” It wasn’t Nay who had asked this again, but a shadow in a dark spot of the tent. Trinne almost fell off her bed, clearly surprised. She seemed also very relieved at the same time, and started crying.

The oil lamp visibly stopped working as well as before, although the flame was still as strong as before.

“Biach!” Someone swore outside.

Nay’s expression darkened even more. She left the tent.

The Patrex priest was still standing between the tents. He was looking in bewilderment around him.

“What is…miss Nay?”

“She’s here. Of course she’s here. Did you find this funny?”

“What? I…no, I assure you that there is no one…”

“Why are the torches not working anymore!?” Someone shouted that barely ten yards away, but he was completely invisible behind the heavy lack of light that had fallen on the worksite camp.

“Nay! Wait!” Trinne rushed out of the tent. She had put on a jacket, but stopped shyly just in front of the entrance, as if she was scared to fully get outside.

The Legio glanced in her direction, then back to the Patrex priest.

“There is no one, yeah?” The threat in her voice was all-encompassing.

The Patrex priest raised both his hands in the air. “I do not understand what is happening, but please, I have no idea where miss Ruby is, I swear it.”

Nay put her hand on Lake. Horick Valassian stopped moving. He gulped audibly.

“You are quite courageous to say that. Will you still say it to my face after…” Nay stopped. Trinne had finally advanced beyond the tent, to hug Nay from behind.

“Nay. Stop.”

“Miss Trinne!?” Horick seemed completely shocked.

Nay grit her teeth, but Trinne put her hand over Nay’s, stopping her from unsheathing Lake.

“No. He’s being sincere, I…it can’t be. I’m too old, but…it has to be a phantom power I…Biach.”

“A power…are you God-Touched?” Horick exclaimed.

Nay looked at her friend firmly holding her from behind. She was shivering.

Her rage puffed out like a cheese soufflé. Surprised shouts echoed around them as the light of the torches suddenly seemed to work again, bringing some semblance of daylight back in the encampement. The workers that had left their tents were looking around, completely puzzled at what had just occurred. Most didn’t even notice the two girls facing the Patrex priest, preferring to gaze at the rebirth of their only light sources.

“What? That is not possible, I would have…” Nay interrupted herself. Around the Rreico of flowers and metal, there was now night as well, the blackness of lost souls. Barely visible with her sixth sense, just a fine layer at the edge of the redhead’s body.

“By Lebe’s cavernous vagina.” She swore. Nay closed her eyes. How? Why? Lisana, then Trinne? Was her cursed power contagious? There weren’t many other explanations. Nay suddenly felt really tired, all of a sudden, she would have fallen if Trinne had steadied her.

“Oh! You’re here much earlier than planned…you…you used it, didn’t you? Nay! You know what state it puts you in, what if you went to the wrong place?”

“Miss Trinne, would you mind explaining what just happened? I…we thought that…”

“I know what you thought.” Trinne raised her hand in front of her, hiding behind Nay as well, she didn’t want him to look at her. Nay felt anger in her Rreico, but also shame.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, priest Valassian. I have things to discuss with Ruby first.” Nay decided to put herself between them completely, despite her weak legs.

“But…”

“That is an order.”

The priest clenched his teeth. “Understood. See you tomorrow then, miss Diamond, miss Ruby.”

“Yes, to you too.” Trinne answered, despite the sentence making little sense in this particular context.

The redhead helped Nay to the tent. “You’re can barely walk!”

“And you’re trembling like a dead leaf.” The Legio retorted. “I…I was so scared.”

“Of?”

“They told me you had disappeared.”

Trinne shut her eyes a short moment, then helped Nay to sit on her bed, before sitting down next to her.

“I…they saw your phantom power.” Trinne noted.

“Yeah.” Nay didn’t care one bit. “Trinne, your Rreico…”

“I can guess. I’m too old to be God-Touched. Is it your Rreico above mine?”

Nay grimaced.

“Biach.” Trinne swore. “Well, I hope all my work to give more liberties to God-Touched will pay when we’re back then. I really don’t want to spend between one and five years stuck in the Cathedral.”

“I’m so sorry…what happened? Everything is my fault…” Nay looked at her friend. Trinne seemed exhausted, and the scar on her cheek was more visible now, contrasting even more with her perfect features. Nay’s eyes became humid.

“What? No, it is my bad, I should have guessed earlier that this was magic somehow but…well the nightmares, then everyone acting as if I didn’t exist…I almost got run down by a Yae, so I decided to stay in the tent, but in the dark and this closed space, I…it felt like coming back into the tunnels under the Plateau.

“I’m so sorry.” Nay put a hand on her throat, and the other over her heart.

“None of that between us. You had no idea.”

“Lisana…”

“We thought it was a weird coincidence, all of us.”

“No. You said that…”

“I know what I said. But it was a theory, one we discredited when we stayed together all the time for one year. You double-checked it yourself. It’s only when you left for the…Ah. Of course. Distance. Lisana showed the first signs of a Touched after you left Gite. Idiot. I’m an idiot. That’s the trigger. Close proximity for a long duration, then sudden distance.”

“But…why only Lisana and you?”

Trinne put her head on Nay’s shoulder. She sighed deeply. “I…I’ll have an idea, but not now. Tomorrow. I barely slept an hour in what? Two…three days? And you’re barely sitting straight. Could…could you stay with me tonight…just…I know there isn’t much room but…I just want to sleep. We need to sleep.”

Nay looked at her friend for an instant. Her heart squeezed at seeing her so fragile.

She put her arm around her and hugged her tight. She sighed too, slowly. Trinne didn’t blame her. What’s more, her Rreico had been unsettled and terrified before, but right now, it was calm and peaceful.

Nay didn’t deserve that. What Trinne had experienced because of her had been traumatizing, without a doubt. Whether it was what happened in Gite or here…those things were her fault. But she couldn’t do anything else than accept this forgiving Rreico. There was nothing else she could do.

“Yes. Of course.”