January 16, 2019, 1:32 pm. Half an hour after foolishly knocking us off wolfback.

Rufka's pet wolf, Tuffie, is still going strong. In the time since we started, we've covered nearly half the distance to the others.

Forty-two.

We're down to a count of forty-two between pulses. As good as our progress is, I want to stop so I can contact Beth again. There's something about what the white K'tharn did, that has me thinking. I have to yell twice before Rufka acknowledges. Once she hears me, Rufka responds with a shrug, slowing Tuffie only after she finds a picturesque clearing with a small stream running through it.

As I sit and concentrate, I find the limited connection is easy to form now. I don't have to spend focus for this version. I know the specific shape, which my facet slots into without a fuss, following the pattern.

I feel a little uncomfortable about contacting Beth like this without sending her a text. The only person I ever called without texting first was Mami on Sundays. And Beth doesn't even get to answer a ringing phone. Oh well, not much I can do about it.

The connection forms and Beth starts speaking before I'm even sure it's through, "can you hear me, Alexis? Tipan sent most of the others away. She told me we have to get out of here before her boss Ivicka gets back. Not sure what she did, but Josh and Roberts are finally recovering."

Huh, suspicion confirmed.

"What happened," I ask. Then unable to stop myself, I continue, "one second we were all fighting for our lives, I get knocked on the head, then when I wake up, you're all gone."

"Hey kid, listen, I'm sorry. We didn't have a choice, Josh had barely finished beating down that monster attacking you, then an honest to god dragon and cat people showed up."

"K'tharn," I correct her, absently.

"Right, the K'tharn show up. Anyway, the dragon roared, just the once, which caused both the guys to collapse on the ground like wet noodles. Alone and outnumbered, I surrendered. I wasn't sure if I should tell them you were there. Besides, they didn't speak English, and it's not like I spoke cat."

"Vausian," I again correct her absently. While I've been talking, Rufka has approached, sitting down in front of me as Beth and I converse. In English.

"Right, Vausian. Anyway, wait. How did you learn that? Did you manage to finish a language quest kid?" Beth questions me while Rufka pulls out a round stone with a rune engraved in the top. If I were back on earth, I'd almost say it was one of those single element stove burners. We had one at home, though we never used it for cooking.

"No, I downloaded a language primer using facet. It was…. something else," I answer as I watch Rufka start making some soup. Her soup is heavy on the meat, and she deftly uses the little object to heat it. It really is a portable stove.

"Yeah, learning an entire language in a few minutes was a pretty intense experience. As I was saying, they picked us up, then brought us back here. They've been pretty good to me, but they've kept the guys in a stupor the whole time. Not sure why," Beth supplies. This is the first time I've connected to Beth when there's food that has an appetizing aroma on my end instead of hers. It's very distracting.

"Uhm, probably because they don't see their males as people. More like pets," I reply refocusing on my conversation with Beth.

"Wow, okay. That explains a lot," Beth replies. Then I hear rustling on her end.

"We must go, Bethany, your friends have awoken, but the others will be back soon. Ivicka will not be pleased with me, and it will all be for naught if we are here when she returns."

"Why are you doing this?" Beth asks Tipan, while Rufka adds a few sprinkles of what I'm guessing is some kind of herb to the meat soup.

"If Ivicka were to discover your pu'shaha are intelligent, nevermind system integrated as you claim, there's no telling what she would do. But it would not be pleasant. We must get them away from here. I have friends who can help," I hear Beth's tutor inform her. Meanwhile, I watch as Rufka tastes her soup before adding a couple more spices. Then tasting it again, she nods.

Thus satisfied she pours two bowls of delicious, smelling meat soup. That was amazingly quick.

"Thank you," I say to Rufka in Vausian when she hands me a bowl.

"So you can talk to your friends through Aetherium wards? Mum, never said such a thing was possible for an aquamancer," Rufka comments as she takes the other bowl for herself.

Spooning some of the wonderful soup into my mouth, I'm unable to answer. Before I'm finished Beth speaks again. Keeping track of two conversations is going to get annoying I realize.

Swallowing, I don't think about my reply to Rufka as I listen to Beth, "I'm not an aquamancer," in Vausian. I can tell Rufka wants to know more, but I take a cue from Beth, holding up a hand to signal to wait. Rufka seems to understand, instead spearing another piece of meat, which she chews while watching me closely.

"It looks like we're leaving. Tipan is leading us to a secure place south of here. She says it should be safe from Ivicka. Do you think you'll be able to join us there?" Beth checks while Rufka watches me.

"Probably," I reply to Beth in English.

"Okay. It sounds like it could be more than a couple hours on foot. Apparently, we're flying. Good work on the voice comms by the way. This is exactly what we needed."

"Thanks," I reply around a mouthful of, oh so tasty, meat. As I swallow, I realize I could spend the next hour catching Beth up on everything, but I concentrate on what I think might be important.

"It sounds like the people who captured you are called the Aetherium. From what I've been told, they're a group of mages. I think. They have a portal. There's no guarantee, but it could allow us to get back to earth. They're also big players around here."

"Understood," Beth replies while I feed Smoulder a piece of meat from my soup. It's not fried enough for her, so Smoulder cranks her tail up to eleven before chomping down on the once juicy morsel. When Beth continues talking, it takes me a moment to realize she's not speaking to me.

"What's that? Okay. Sorry, Alexis, it's about to get pretty loud on our end. Call me back in a couple hours?" Beth requests as I hear Tipan start instructing her on how to tighten straps.

"Okay," I reply as I let the connection end, leaving me looking at Rufka who's almost finished her bowl.

"Sorry, you were saying?" I prompt Rufka as I snag another scrumptious piece.

"What are you, if you're not an aquamancer? I saw you destroy those Pothlin with your water magic. I've only heard of aquamancers being that powerful when wielding water as a weapon. Do you have an advanced class?" Rufka asks as she chews on her last piece of meat.

Considering Rufka, I wonder what I should tell her. She's really hard for me to read. Sure she's helping me get to the others, but she also held me at arrow point, played a game then made me tea. That was all before she pretended to be a crazy killer followed by her ruse of cutting herself with her ritual knife before making me lick it.

"I don’t have an advanced class. In fact, I don't have a class at all," I decide to tell her. I feel like I should tell her something and this seems like the least important thing I can reveal. I'm not going to mention that I can manipulate all nine elements, never mind space and time. This way I can tell her some of the truth but not most of it.

Rufka just stares at me, her fork falling in the grass as she scrutinizes me.

I just give her a nervous smile and a little wave while trying to figure out why she's staring at me like I have two heads. Suddenly, she starts laughing.

"Ha. Haha. You had me going there," Rufka responds. "I guess I deserved that. If you want to keep your class to yourself, that is fair. It was rude of me to ask."

"Uhm, I was being serious," I try, confused by her laughter. I tell her the truth and this is what I get?

"Sure, like any-user could survive long enough to safely control the elements like that without a class," she says still chuckling.

I nod, holding my tongue as Rufka stands up. She glances at me for a second before handing me her bowl. I look at it for a second trying to figure out the meaning. Then I realize she just wants me to wash it. Blushing, I clean her bowl before doing the same with the rest of the dishes. It's clear that lunch is over. Only now do I realize I forgot to analyze it. I check my conditions, but thankfully there's nothing new and dangerous.

As she packs everything away, I get an updated bearing on the others while reflecting on her reaction. Why did Rufka make such a big deal about my ability? Beth's capability with her rifle is at least as powerful, and she doesn't have a class either. Or at least she didn't.

Interrupting my thoughts, Rufka speaks up, "come on Lex, let's go find these friends of yours."

Once she's got me settled, I point Rufka in a south-west direction. I'm trying to guess roughly where the others are headed based on what Beth said. I haven't had enough time to triangulate their position yet, so it's mostly a guess at this point.

As we set off into the woods, I can't help but wonder why Rufka didn't believe that I can do what I can without a class. Her disbelief is obvious.

Is magic here that dangerous without a class? Thinking back to my early explosive spells, I can see it.

Realizing this is yet another of those things I just don't have enough information to figure out the answer to, I shelve it while subtly practicing my twilight magic. I use Rufka's back as a canvas, creating shadow puppets for mine and Smoulder's amusement. I practice my letters too, of course, but at this point creating letters with mana is so easy it's boring.

An hour later and Rufka is slowing Tuffie down, I see why when I look over her shoulder. Ahead there's a chasm over ten meters wide stretching across our path. As she picks her way up the rocky path, I notice the posts on either side of the road. "Some-user has cut away the bridge," Rufka growls out while sliding from Tuffie's back. I watch her run her finger along the fresh mark gouged into the wood. Whoever it was, they weren't gentle.

Rufka looks to the skies while I inspect the chasm more closely, Smoulder deciding to observe from my shoulder.

There’s a soft glow that emanates from above the gap, colouring everything behind it brown. It’s like looking through novelty sunglasses but instead of yellow, everything is slightly brown. It kind of reminds me of my augmented twilight vision, now that I think about it. The walls of the chasm have what appear to be veins of a rich dark brown running through them, and there are small glistening shards at what I want to call nodes where the veins meet.

Turning to ask Rufka about it, I find her leaning out over the chasm, holding herself out while grasping Tuffie's harness. She looks back with a frown as she says, “I found the bridge. We’re going to need another way across.”

“I take it we can’t just go around?” I ask as I step closer to the edge.

“Yes. If we go south, there’s a far sturdier bridge that I doubt has been destroyed. It’s at least half a day on wolfback though,” Rufka replies while stepping back from the edge.

While she steps back I keep creeping forward As I get closer to the edge I look down.

“Wow, how deep does this go?” I wonder out loud. There’s no indication of a bottom, the chasm just keeps descending into darkness.

“It’s unknown, no-user knows the secrets of the wounds. Those users who venture too deep don’t tend to come back,” Rufka answers while scowling at the missing bridge. “Bah, it's going to take me days to rebuild the damn bridge."

"Why does the air have a brown tint to it," I wonder out loud, still fascinated by the 'wound'.

Rufka shrugs as she sighs, "I'm no scholar. All I know is that earth elementals like to come wandering out of this one, tearing up the nearby forest when they 'play'. There's a really pretty one that's covered in ice a ways east of here. You might have seen it."

With those words, I remind myself to step back from the glow in front of me. I'm really glad I didn't focus on it. The last thing I need is to make my mana poisoning worse.

"Oh, and it's apparently a lot easier to work magic of the same affinity near them," she adds as an afterthought while gazing off into the south.

"Wouldn't it be dangerous to use magic near them?" I ask as a thought occurs to me.

Rufka turns back to me, "Nah," she replies while flicking her gaze back and forth between me and the chasm.

"How much do you weigh?" Rufka asks as she steps towards me.

"Uhm what?" I reply as I take a step back.

"I was just thinking, you're pretty good with that water magic of yours. With that sort of pressure, you could easily throw me and Tuffie here over this gap. Only question is, how do we get you across after," Rufka replies.

"Oh," I respond. That… could work. Drawing forth a sphere of water I pick up a nearby stone. Bringing the whole thing out over the chasm, I turn the orb into a miniature version of my torrent. The stone clears the treetop on the far side then keeps arcing out of sight.

"Uhm, maybe not," Rufka replies scratching her chin. Meanwhile, I look at the literally glowing earth mana around us. When in Rome.

Reaching out with my earth manipulation I start forming a bridge, packing it together, weaving in water then baking it with fire. I've created a structure nearly two meters deep when Rufka speaks up, "handrails. Don't forget handrails."

Looking back I see Rufka lounging against Tuffie, waiting patiently for me to continue. I kinda forgot she was here when I started. This is my problem with magic. I get so caught up in it, I forget about everything around me. Well, it's too late to hide it from her now, not that I wanted to. I continue my work, creating deep supports running down the cliff face below me. And handrails.

When I reach the halfway point I realize I have a problem. I can't reach the other side, but I don't think I can support much more weight on this side. This bridge is not light.

Stepping back I turn to Rufka, who's looking at me with a grin.

"I knew it. You're some kind of Elementalist, aren't you?" she asks as she steps forward to inspect my work.

"Uhm. I mean," I start to reply but she keeps talking, so I stop.

"Hmm. This will do. Pretty good for only ten minutes' work," she says as she turns back.

"But it's not done," I protest as she climbs up on Tuffie's back before reaching a hand down to pull me up.

"Looks done enough to me," Rufka decides as she sets me into place. It only occurs to me what she's planning when Tuffie starts sprinting towards my arching bridge. Grabbing tightly, I feel my stomach lurch as we launch off my half-completed bridge. She didn't even let me buckle on properly.

I make the mistake of looking down while we're crossing. The light of the mana illuminates a long way down, but I still can't see the bottom, and the sudden change in perspective makes me dizzy. As I'm still processing, the ground suddenly rushes up to meet us. We land smoothly, though I still lurch from the sudden change in gravity, tumbling off Tuffie's side.

As I brush myself off I receive a clear thought from Smoulder. She wants to go again.

"So, do you want to stay and finish your bridge?" Rufka asks turning to me with a grin, "or would you rather we go find your friends?"

"Friends," I manage to get out before Smoulder launches herself back across the bridge.

"Or not," I mumble as I watch Smoulder bounce from the top of the arch over into the bushes nearby before hurtling back to the top then doing it all again.

I project a sense of urgency at her, which causes Smoulder to grudgingly give up her new toy. She's mostly satisfied when I give her some more scritches and wolf jerky, but I get the sense she's feeling restless.

As soon as Smoulder's settled, I climb up behind Rufka, who sends Tuffie forward into the forest again.

Since we're travelling again, I decide this is a good time to give my notifications a proper review.

"Skills increased:

Temporal Manipulation (16 to 24) Spatial Manipulation (19 to 27) Mana Manipulation* (82 to 83) Fire Manipulation (29 to 31) Water Manipulation (36 to 37) Wind Manipulation (29 to 30) Stone Manipulation (52) Earth Manipulation (31 to 35) Twilight Manipulation (10 to 21) Engineering (26 to 27) Riding (2 to 5) Insight (4) Deception (2)

I guess all of Rufka's antics are good for raising my social skills at least. First time I've seen either of those increase.

"Skill unlocked: Crafting - Ceramics (1 to 4)"

"Quest received: Plenty of pots. Description: Learn the ways of crafting with earth and fire. Requirements: Create 0/10 ceramic earthenware, raise Ceramics skill 4/25. Reward: 3 iron rank integration points. Time: 3/3 days remaining."

New Crafting quest. Cool. I'll need to work on that next time we're stopped. Looks pretty easy. Earthenware means plates and stuff, right? Looking at my skills, I wonder why I didn't trigger a quest for tailoring when I unlocked it.

As we travel I continue my practice with my twilight manipulation until I receive the notification I've been waiting for.

"Skill increased: Twilight Manipulation (22 to 25)"

As much fun as shadow puppets was at first, it got boring after half an hour. It doesn't help that Smoulder's only really a fan of the good old bunny ears shadow.

My facet is full, and while I can't use the audio-only connection while travelling, it occurs to me that I can use the regular version. Every time I've used it my own senses cut out. So, securing myself to the wolf, I wait.

20.

When the connection to Josh forms I reinforce it immediately. It only takes nine focus to increase the duration, which is a pretty decent trade.

Oh my God. I'm flying!

Josh is currently rushing through the air, his kite in formation behind the others. Beth, Tipan and Roberts are gliding ahead, the wind blowing his hair back, scratching against his neck.

"Yo, Lex. Is that you?" he asks while I'm still taking in his circumstances.

Oh right, communication, "Yeah. It's me."

"Cool," he says, pausing, "are you like, seeing this through my eyes?"

"Uh yeah," I reply, only now realizing how creepy my ability is. At least they know I'm there. I wonder if they could deny the connection. I should probably check.

"How awesome is this?" he asks, and I can practically hear his grin as he tilts his glider from side to side while staying roughly in formation.

"Pretty awesome," I reply, a matching grin growing on my face. Because it is. They're not just gliding, they're flying. Even as I'm talking with Josh, Tipan leads the group higher. And their gliders all rise with her.

"Check the view," Josh tells me as he looks to the east, which lets me sweep my gaze out over the forest I'm riding through. I can see all the way to the coast, but he keeps panning his vision until my eyes land on the partially overgrown city which rises from the surrounding hills ahead, set at the foot of the mountains.

The structures remind me of the Builder cities, but they no longer have the gleam that defined them in Uthica's memories. As if that's not enough to prove they're abandoned, one of the central towers has partially collapsed. It now leans against several others like an enormous ramp.

I can feel the connection weakening as they adjust course slightly, moving towards the city.

“Stay safe,” I whisper to Josh as he closes his eyes.

"You too, Lex," he whispers as the connection fades.

There are no flashbacks or whatever happens when Beth reinforces the link. Instead, I return to myself without fanfare, and I’m relieved. As interesting as it is, I feel uncomfortable learning things the others might not be willing to share.

The next hour feels like forever as we move as directly as possible. We find ourselves heading almost directly south as we leave the forest beneath us, moving along the ridgeline.

"Fliers," Rufka notes while pointing to the east. I can barely make out several small dots in the sky. If she hadn't pointed at them, I would have thought they were birds. I'm pretty sure that's not the others. They should have landed a while ago. Which means it's probably this Aetherium flight Rufka's been mentioning. Luckily there's no sign of the dragon.

They disappear from sight as Rufka takes us down through a valley towards the next rise. As we crest the top, Rufka exclaims, "Oh Vaus, tell me those aren't your friends."

In front of us lie the city ruins. It's not hard to find the others. They're on a raised platform at the bottom of the hill. I can make out Josh's rose armour, Beth's massive rifle, Roberts pyjama suit and the white K'tharn.

But they're not alone, around them are hundreds of Pothlin, pushing and shoving at each other. Towering over the Pothlin is a giant K'tharn like creature with two heads, dark brown scales instead of fur and a massive club. As I'm looking down I notice an update.

"Objective complete: 3/3 companions found. Rewards: 9 iron rank integration points.”

"Quest revised: Follow that dragon! > Forget the dragon, kill the V'troll! Requirements: 3/3 companions alive. 0/1 V'trolls defeated. Reward: 7 iron rank integration points; 1 iron grade ingot. Time: 30/30 minutes."

"Yep, that's them," I reply.

"Well, this should be fun," Rufka states before plunging us towards the horde at breakneck speed as I hold on tight.

This is not what I had in mind when I told Josh to stay safe.

Oh well, at least we found them.