- What about these jewels?

- What about them? I like it, but it wouldn't be enough.

- And my wife?

- What about her? She's beautiful, yes, but not enough.

- My two youngsters have broad shoulders, they can be useful.

- Hm? Interesting, but I already have many slaves. It's still not enough.

- I've offered you everything I have, what else can I offer you?!

- Everything? Of course not, I'm sure there are still things you can offer me.

Mocking representation of Ibabwa traders, Itwa Kingdom, Minowa Federation.

It took a lot of effort to weave the earth from scratch, it was much easier to use weaving to be able to retrieve the rock that already existed around him, with a weave of fire to fuse it all into a round rock that fit his hand Jonah created a projectile that fit his needs. With a weave of augmentation focused on his arm and back he threw the rock he had created, the ball of rock went flying, thanking his great coordination Jonah smiled.

His projectile had hit its target, killing the hare with one blow.

After realising that it was too risky to use the canopy to travel through the forest, Jonah decided to go back down to the ground, albeit with regret. Of course, it was possible to find access among the branches of the huge trees, but these were too rare and did not always go in the direction he wanted to go. The space between the trees was always too large for this to be a feasible method of locomotion in the long term. Although he felt that these giant trees were close enough that in a normal forest they would have cannibalised each other. He still wondered how when he was trapped under them.

He'd asked Lenael and he hadn't had an answer, other than a divine mystique. Jonah wanted to believe it was possible, but even then he had to have a process that explained it rather than something out of thin air. He hated not understanding. Anyway, that would be a thought to dig into for quieter times.

Concentrating on his task at hand Jonah retrieved the body of the hare before finding a protected corner between two roots. He gathered some wood and prepared a small campfire.

He decided to wait until he had finished butchering his meal before lighting his fire. He was afraid of attracting unwanted attention with his fire. After taking out the animal's entrails and removing its skin Jonah hesitated.

He had prepared a small stone bowl with the weaving where he had collected the blood of the hare. He could use it to create runes that would attract the attention of some of the beings in the forest. It wasn't guaranteed to work, but if he attracted the right entities it could be a solution to some of his problems.

In reality, he didn't even know if it was true. He had never tried it, his knowledge on the matter was minimal at best, his source of information coming from a book that one of his Eldar classmates had given him. He had read it at night as his last book before bed, he had never told anyone else about it other than that same classmate, not even Lenael or Aurora. It was one of the many trivial pieces of information he had managed to glean during his stay in Irvanon but which he had not been able to verify.

Finally deciding that he was not yet in a situation where he would need to use the knowledge that he had no assurance would come back to bite him, he put the blood aside.

He took out the wooden gourd he had created for himself, washed the blood and entrails from his hands, before drinking it for himself. He had even made sure to cool the water, preferring it ice cold. It was perhaps a comfort he could have done without, but it was such a minimal weave and required little effort, so Jonah indulged himself.

He had found a small lake, more of a pond, shortly after coming down from the vantage point that had allowed him to realize which side of the river he was on, he had been able to prepare a supply of water. He could also have used the weave to draw moisture around him, but that would have required a weave that would have taken him some time to make. So he was glad to have found a lake, he just had to weave the bark of a tree into the shape he wanted.

Just after that he had spotted the hare and decided that a little meat in his stomach would help him, for the perilous journey he had to make. To find a less dangerous part of the forest.

Weaving the fire on the camp he had prepared Jonah warmed up the carcass of the hare. The meat of the hare when ready was hard to the tooth. It was anything but tender and not much of it. Nevertheless, it was sufficient for his needs so Jonah was satisfied.

Taking advantage of his stop to check the wounds on his arm, he removed the makeshift bandage from his arm. Gently tugging on it to make sure he didn't tear the scabs, Jonah was pleased to see that his wounds were healing well. Wetting his bandage to remove the blood and dirt that covered it as best he could Jonah put his bandage back on.

With his mastery of augmentation sufficiently advanced, Jonah was not too concerned about risking infection. Unless he encountered monsters with a special constitution or hostile beings smart enough to use one of the powers that made up this world, it wasn't likely he would have to worry about getting sick again.

Extinguishing his fire, he hid his tracks and buried the remains of the hare before leaving. He had chosen a tree with a specific pattern in its bark as a landmark, then he would repeat the process. He hoped that he would not deviate too much from the route that would allow him to find the Tua River.

As it had been impossible to spot the tiver from his previous vantage point Jonah had decided on a direction that would place the mountains directly behind him. The Tua River was not exactly straight, so if he was lucky he would get to a bend in the river closer to the mountains fairly quickly. Only, Jonah was unable to estimate how far he had travelled on the wyvern's back. This probably meant that it would take him several days to get to his destination, and that's only if he didn't run into any trouble along the way.

Moreover, Jonah hoped to retrace the route he had taken by wyvern flight, hoping, albeit with very little optimism, to find Marie. If not alive, then at least her body, to give her a proper burial.

Jonah realised how laughable this idea was, but he could not suppress the hope he had in his heart.

When he arrived at the first pattern he had chosen he looked to find a new one easily recognizable just behind it. Before he could make that decision Jonah spotted a stag with a huge antler and wingspan.

The deer was running, obviously frightened. Jonah had a bad feeling and hid against a tree in silence. His hunch proved right again, a huge beast, even bigger than the deer, which was already one and a half times the size of Jonah chased the animal. Was everything in this kingdom huge? Unless it was this world that was like that.

The beast looked like a panther, but there was something slightly different about it than Jonah had seen in animal documentaries, and it wasn't its size.

Thinking it didn't matter, Jonah tried to make himself as small as possible. Holding his weapon in his hand he could not help but watch the hunt of this beast. Both the stag and the panther were sublime, despite the distance he could see the power of their muscle in action.

Unfortunately for the deer, the panther was unstoppable, making a jump against a tree that is used as a springboard to land on its prey, the beast won the day. The force of its momentum shook the earth and despite the forest absorbing the sound the noise of their struggle was deafening.

Jonah wisely decided that he had seen enough, unfortunately for him the direction he had to take was directly through them, so he chose a tree perpendicular to the direction he wanted to go, he would come back on his way later.

He decided that he would go back up one of the big trees to see if he had strayed too far from the path he had set later.

Still paying attention to his surroundings Jonah continued on his way. But what he feared was true, barely an hour later he had to hide again in a hurry. Some sort of giant insect was walking through the forest. More than twice his size Jonah could only see it from the back, and from where he was he thought the insect was scratching the ground. For once Jonah decided not to satisfy his curiosity and went in another direction.

The rest of his day was no better, Jonah had to dodge many monsters, some even bigger than the bug, and those that weren't huge were never alone. And not only the animals but some of the plants were just as dangerous, he was drawn in despite himself by an enticing smell, a fruit was planted at the end of a long line, it was so obviously a trap that Jonah couldn't help and approached.

Wait, Jonah thought. With a shudder, he wove a stream of air around his nose. The spell that had taken him was still powerful, but he could resist the urge to reach for the fruit, to take a bite. Jonah swallowed with difficulty, the pheromones that this thing must have released must have been extremely powerful to be able to attract him like this without him noticing. Unless it was magic?

He knew that magic was a separate thing from weaving but he had been refused an explanation of what it was, the Eldar were so obviously against magic that the mere mention of it erased even their cultural need to show hospitality and cordiality to their guests.

Cautiously Jonah moved away from the infernal fruit, and only then did he realise that he had no idea which way to go. The plant had made him lose his bearings.

Sighing with regret, Jonah was going to have to climb a tree again. This setback nevertheless gave him an idea. Considering how dangerous the forest floor was, it was lucky that he had managed to fall asleep the day before, even if it was only intermittently and very badly because of his particular situation, he had not been disturbed. Strangely enough, now that he thought about it, the forest was not particularly quiet, he regularly heard disturbing noises as he walked between the trees. Sometimes even particularly disturbing roars.

The night had been relatively quiet, no noise that one would expect from such a disturbing forest. Jonah knew that the nocturnal creatures of the Emerald Kingdom were far more dangerous. Could it be because of the wyvern? Its blood was spilt in the area perhaps it had repelled the beasts from the area?

Jonah shook his head, he couldn't put off the climb forever. Planting his Svärdstav in the tree, Jonah climbed. As he finally reached the canopy the daylight was getting darker and darker, deciding that he would make the rest of the climb the next day Jonah found a particularly large branch near the trunk of the tree. He then disturbed a family of particularly aggressive squirrels who was throwing snail shells at his head. He managed to coax into them, giving them offerings of fruit found in the forest. Satisfied with the rent he had been given, the acerbic animals allowed him, albeit grudgingly, to fall asleep here.

Despite the width of the tree branch, Jonah weaved the bark over one of his feet so that he could sleep while remaining motionless.

From where he was, he had a view of the starry sky of Sa, which was usually hidden by the dense leaves of the trees of the Emerald Kingdom. He thought back to the first night he had spent in this world. It was like another life for him, he felt as if he had lived more in the few months he spent here than in all the years he had spent on Earth. Nevertheless, once he had paid with their servitude, to the transgression that their presence had on the laws of the Eldar Kingdom, Jonah intended to look for a way to bring his companions home.

They had been brought here, therefore it was there was a way to get them back to where they brought them. For the moment the only clue he had concerned the Eldar gods, so once the Towers were reactivated Jonah intended to go to Tyrlaon, the city of temples. It was there that the seat of the clergy was located. And even if many temples existed in the Kingdom, some of the gods being more influential in certain provinces and domains, the chief priest of each of the main Eldar gods was in Tyrlaon.

Although he had not been told, Jonah assumed that it was the Divine power that had brought them here. There were too many Eldar comments for him to doubt this claim. The problem was that he had no idea how Divine power worked. He would have called it magic if he didn't know better than to utter a word so sacrilegious to the Eldar. In any case, he had learned weaving, if it was possible for him to learn that then he wanted to see what other types of power reacted with the world. And especially if it was possible for him to learn, because only with power would he be able to protect others. He understood that pure power was a big part of this world. At least in the Emerald Kingdom. Jonah still didn't know how the kingdoms of other species worked.

Thanks to Mustapha, who had managed to gather a lot of knowledge that was absent from the books Jonah had access to, he knew that in the grand scheme of things, the Emerald Kingdom was little. Even if the Kingdom was one of the great powers of this world, others could challenge its hold on the dominance of the globe. In reality, he spoke of a globe in his mind because that is how he imagined the world, but despite all the knowledge he had access to, never had the shape of the world been pointed out, even Lenael, the wisest Eldar Jonah had ever met did not conceive of the world as a globe.

This meant several things to the humans, and they had thought about it in depth among themselves. Either the Eldar branches of knowledge had never focused on the sky, which would have allowed them to have a better understanding of their world, as it did on Earth. Which Jonah doubted, he had found books on astronomy in the Irvanon library. But this was not Jonah's priority and he had not studied things in depth. Nevertheless, their second assumption was that the shape of this world was quite different from what they knew.

Jonah knew that the Eldar believed in the existence of several planes of existence that would be radically different from the more material ones they were on. There was a whole branch of study on the matter, and if his search for the Eldar deities proved to be a dead-end that's where Jonah would turn his attention.

Jonah yawned, he always did that, he would plan to do something, like sleep, then something would catch his attention and his mind would wander in strange directions. Leila often chided him for spending too much time in front of the computer after a particularly interesting subject had caught his attention. He was late for many dates because of this particular personality trait.

Turning on his side, his foot still locked in the bark, Jonah watched the squirrel family sleeping peacefully a few feet away in a tree cavity. Tomorrow would be the second day he spent in the forest. The second since he had been separated from his friends. With these last thoughts, Jonah fell asleep.

Jonah rarely dreamed, but when he did, he remembered, and when he did, he made a habit of noting the main features of his rare dreams as soon as he got up. His mother had told him that a dream was a window into what he desired and feared. But as Jonah rose from his tree branch to the sound of a pan flute, he had the strange sensation that he was dreaming, he was surrounded by mist, a silver moon visible above him. Jonah didn't know when he had made this decision but he moved closer to the sound of the flute. The sound was coming from above him, on the moon.

Approaching the treetops Jonah looked up to see the moon, it was bright and beautiful, but only that. There was no wood nymph playing the flute. Disappointed Jonah was about to go back downstairs when a mocking trill came from behind him. Jonah turned around.

In front of him on a branch stretched towards the moon stood an Eldar. The moon? Wasn't she behind him? A questioning note sounded and Jonah concentrated on the Eldar, he felt as if he knew her. Had he ever dreamed of her?

The Eldar cocked his head to the side, a mocking note accompanying his movement. Oddly enough Jonah was unable to see what she looked like, even as the moonlight shone in the sky. Even as that light illuminated everything around him, cutting through the mist, and stretching for miles. Jonah could see everything, but the stranger's face was unreadable to him, he couldn't even recognize the colour of her hair.

A warning note sounded. Jonah refocused his attention on the stranger, he could see her looking at him, a serious look on her face. Another warning note. Jonah frowned uncomfortably. The musical note became downright insistent. Jonah didn't understand. A discordant note sounded, hurting him, breaking his concentration. And suddenly the world shattered.

Jonah woke up, it was still dark. And something was falling on him.