I quickly leafed through the books, memorizing their contents. Then I closed my eyes and simply sat, unmoving, trying to make sense of what I had just read.

Time passed slowly, but my inability to get tired really shone in cases like this. After two hours of pondering, with eyes still shut, I stood up and moved to the window. The frames were well made, and opened easily, letting in the ice-cold mountain air. For me, it felt pleasantly refreshing.

What I understood from the books, was the fact that magic was everywhere and nowhere, with the contradiction making some sort of twisted sense. It could be precise but formless, complex and intuitive.

Because the books were written by different people, with hundreds of years separating some of them, the ideas and explanations were messy and unstandardized. And as if that was not enough, everything focused on the manipulation of magic, not its basic nature. It went against the modern scientific school of thought, and therefore felt to be quite confusing.

However, taking into account the references to “godly powers” and “power weaving through the multitudes of planes”, I came to the conclusion that it was another case of energy dimensions. I had already found out that soul and life energy were outside of the usual three-dimensional space-time, and now it seemed that magic was the same, but in the different spectrum or position that I could not sense.

Tentatively content with such conclusion, I tried to find out about the theoretical limitations and uses of magic.

...and even with no brain, almost managed to get a migraine.

Well-intending authors had managed to write down the descriptions of most magic types in the world. European pentagrams, Nordic runes, ancient protective hieroglyphs, geomancy, Kabbalah numerology, warding signs and gestures, all sort of basic rituals, chants and spells. Most of them could be used to reach a similar, if not the same, result.

And to add to my frustration, in the History of the Theory book, the promised paragraph about the Soul Words was more of a footnote than a proper description. It simply repeated what Matthea, or rather, Matthew back then, had said. An archaic tradition of gaining unpredictable, phenomena-controlling powers based on individual soul affinity. Nowadays considered abandoned in favour for spirit-based magic.

---

I thought that perhaps finding more books might help, by providing more details and ideas. Once I got that idea, I wanted to go out and look for the library, or how it was in Akadem, the Depository. But then I remembered what I had heard from SAS radio and Arthur.

Something big had happened in the world while we were participating in the bloody auction.

I opened my eyes and looked at the surrounding mountains, with only snow, rocks and blue sky in sight. Not really believing in success, I went to my bag and pulled out my phone. In retrospective, it had been a smart move to put it there. It was doubtful that it could have survived the G-forces during my fight with the extradimensional invader.

I switched it on and what I saw was surprising enough to make my eyebrows raise all the way to meet the hairline. Blinking on the screen, was a jumping, but still real low-medium bar of connection. Well, Arthur did use a decade-old cellphone, so it actually made some sense. But somehow, it ruined all the mysterious feeling I had here.

However, where did the signal come from - was there some ski resort behind the nearest ridge or something? At least a quick check and an empty list of Wi-Fi networks returned my belief into the magical side of the Akadem. The presence of ‘Eduroam’ would have been too...ordinary, I think.

I still had sufficient charge, but I guessed that I will need to get a power bank or a generator in the future. As odd as it was for a place that made some use of modern technology, I could see no power sockets anywhere.

First, I quickly opened an international news portal. In a few seconds, a list of recent headlines finished loading.

“The presentation of the new iPhone delayed - shipping delays result in $14.8 million losses for Apple.”

“Pentagon accuses Moscow of interrupting international trade.”

“Unprecedented changes in geology: Scientists can’t explain the tectonic activity”

“Earth’s core has stopped: truth behind the conspiracy.”

“Scientists covering for government? 25 reasons why the official claims are lies”

“Afghanistan: Islamic radicals call for jihad, list ‘revealing clothes and cola’ as the reasons behind recent ‘punishments from God’”

“Kreml calls Washington’s claims unfounded”

“End is Coming - Bible-belt pastor blames Satan. Retired Slovak ice hockey right winger Miroslav Šatan refuses to comment.”

“Sean Bailey: Disney agrees to fund the mission to restart Earth’s core by nuclear detonation.”

“Unidentified lights in the sky. Alien contact or governmental experiments on weather weapon?”

“McDonald’s looted by doomsday cult in Arizona.”

“Iceland president’s tweet about ‘dickfighting America and Russia’ becomes a meme in three hours.”

“Prices for imported good keep rising: domestic farmers celebrate the revival.”

“Bruce Willis denies rumors about him volunteering for suicidal mission to Earth’s core”

“17 orders of Knights Templar go to court for the right to be named as ‘the true inheritors’ of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.”

“British heavy metal band Satan takes the blame. New album sales skyrocket.”

“Two submarines reported to have collided in the sea near Reykjavik: locals save ‘seals’ from the storm of the century while fishermen flood social media with photos of high-tech tactical gear.”

“Official joint statement by ZOG and Illuminati debunked as fraud by Facebook group.”

---

I closed the webpage and pinched the bridge of my nose. The World Wide Web was still up, but I was not that sure if that was actually good or not. Apparently, humanity never changes. Be it ordinary day, war, tsunami or unprecedented mysterious event.

I quickly typed in another web address, for a less popular news site. After a while of link surfing, I had a general understanding of the current situation in the world.

Generally, it was fairly chaotic. With governments reacting in different ways and giving inconsistent explanations, most countries had to face the unrest of the population. It had been so before tonight’s events, but the storms and impassable seas could be explained by weather. The sudden geographical changes, not so easily.

And most importantly, nobody mentioned any weird creatures or magic. Censorship?

However, it clearly proved that no country’s leadership had solid ties to supernatural. Or that they were hiding the truth, either planning something or just hoping for the things to quiet down on their own. Many possibilities came into my mind, but I could not come to a definite conclusion.

When I finally decided that I had found out everything I could, I opened the extravagant ebony door and left my living quarters. It was time to find Faol.

---

I easily found a bronze statue at the nearest hallway crossroads. Following Arthur’s earlier explanations, I dangled my new watch in front of it and said: “Guest rooms.”

At that, the statue slowly turned its head, showing me the correct way. Out of habit, I nodded to it and followed the directions. Repeating the same thing multiple times, I quickly reached the corridor that led to the desired rooms.

There I had to stop, and ask the statues for Faol. It took a bit longer for the statues to verify my watch, before I got the response. That made sense, as Akadem had a pretty complex system of restrictions set up, with various layers of individual access.

I used a brass ring knocker to knock on the door. For a while, nothing happened. After twenty or so seconds passed, the door finally opened. Behind the door stood a naked elf, with bed hair and emitting slight fumes of alcohol.

I sighed, hoping to avoid a BioWare-style development. Then I remembered that elven culture was still stuck in Bronze Age, so nudity could be considered as natural for them. Eala had mentioned that Taistealaithe had trouble adapting to moral and ethical changes in societies. That was mostly caused by warped perception of time and space caused by their dimensional travels. As she had explained, It was difficult to put effort into paying attention to fleeting things.

Anyway, I waved my hand and tried to sound relaxed: “Hey. You know, times have changed since Woodstock. It is currently a norm to wear clothes.”

Faol’s attitude had been quite relaxed and adaptable, so I risked to directly point out the issue.

His gaze moved downwards.

“Oh. Makes sense.” - he calmly said, nodding thoughtfully. Then he added: “Old habits die hard. Especially the millennia-old ones, it seems.”

I cleared my throat, interrupting his self-analysis.

“Right. Just a moment, dude.” - he vanished into the adjacent room, leaving me in the parlour.

---

After a few minutes, he returned, now wearing his padded tunic and wide, loose trousers similar to Japanese umanori, Turkish salvar or Eastern European sharavary.

As he motioned for me to sit down, he created a ball of water in his hand, and tried to deal with his hair. That reminded me a lot of Eala. Again I felt him use his energy when manipulating water, just how it was with Eala. Exactly what made it different from magic? Unfortunately, it was not a good time to ask that.

I looked at him. Compared to the slight asymmetry of humans, the elves had perfectly symmetrical faces. Eerie. And again, that unnatural paleness and lack of colours made them look more like exquisite statues than living people. Beautiful, but queer.

Sitting down in the offered armchair, I observed the room. It was a clean, nice room, but without windows. It also had no extravagant decorations, but a lot of good, solid wood.

Finished dealing with his hair, the elf slapped his knees, relaxedly settling down in his armchair.

Then his gaze turned serious, as he looked into my eyes.

“And, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

I nodded, appreciating his frankness.

“You are a Taistealai.” - I probed first.

He nodded: “I’m aware of that.”

There went the hope for a frank and direct conversation.

“Travellers, moving between worlds and so on.” - I continued speaking.

That got his attention: “Well well. That’s not what everyone would know. Most just think we’re simple nomads.”

I shrugged, deciding to push on: “Emain Ablach, rings the bell?”

Faol raised his hands in defeat: “Fine, I get it, I get it. You know quite a lot about us. And since you know our Home, just say what you need.”

Good. That was what I was hoping for.

“Any recent arrivals without Guides?”

“I haven’t been in touch for quite a while. But without Guide… that would be noticed. I can check that. Why? I don’t think anything like that has happened ever since the last mess the Dana’s lot had us dragged into.”

“You know Eala? I believe, Es’eili would be the name you use.”

He looked surprised hearing that: “Es’eili?”.

He repeated it several times, with slight differences in whistling sounds. I pointed out the correct one.

“Aah, her. Her father did made a fuss, that’s how I know. Didn’t she disappear this winter? I’ve heard, Damh was desperate when a small part of her group returned without her. They should be trying now to find the way to locate her even now. Hopefully his Guides don’t die from exhaustion soon.”

I nodded: “I believe so. I met her recently and she was planning to reach Emain Ablach. But with recent events…”

“Yes, yes, things are messy…” - he sighed as he looked at the ceiling, before slowly continuing: “But, I owe you. So first thing I’ll do when I get there, I’ll look for news about her. Guess it is time to renew the family ties too. Alright, alright.”

---

Having reached the agreement, we chatted about random things. What was of great interest to me, was Faol’s perspective when he talked about his travels. Oddly, it seemed that he had mostly travelled around the Earth, and he pointedly avoided mentioning the other worlds.

But even so, it was an exciting opportunity to hear about centuries of history from someone who had seen everything first-hand. It turned out that I had actually hit the mark when I mentioned Woodstock - Faol was there, in 1969.

As he himself admitted, he used to like the hippie atmosphere, because it reminded him of the period of time from his carefree youth. From more than two thousands years ago.

I, however, had to keep my excitement and interest in check, because I still had to maintain my image. Constant vigilance, self control and maintaining the facade was getting frustrating.

Each action, word and gesture had to be done with thought, and a complex web of hints and lies was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Even with my mental capabilities, so many details were difficult to analyse. Every second, thousands of variables were observed and each detail was firmly committed to my memory.

Even now, I was continuing analyzing the fight in the auction, with more and more of my attention involuntarily drawn to the task. I felt that I began to understand, where the idea about hermits and lone sages had come from. As it was now, there was a risk that without sufficient stimuli, I would simply slip into deep trance, infinitely analysing and thinking about increasingly minor details.

I shook my head to forcefully reorganize my thoughts, thanked Faol and left. He promised to contact Akadem when he gets some news, so now I had one less thing to worry about.

Without any particular aim, I decided to look around the Akadem. I was now sort of working here. On papers, at least.