The silence continued for a good while. My thoughts drifted from thinking about Dixy to the many races she mentioned. How big is this world? How many are there? If those are only the ones that are immortal, and I have ever only encounter five of them, six if you include whatever Ahorn was, how many can I see if I journey across the land?

“I tried to find a way to explain, but God has restricted me.” Dixy says.

“Bullshit.” Is my response. I heavily suspect God has only restricted her when she remembers that it’s a fact, more like a verbal promise rather than an absolute one, as I first got the impression of. Is Dixy here to spy on me? Does she feed information to that god or something? Dixy appeared to genuinely sympathize with God and know of their situation. Maybe something like an angel was embedded in the book and is keeping tabs on me. But is God my enemy? Do I throw Dixy away?

Silly as it may be, that is not an option. She is going to be my only lifelong companion and the magic she teaches is incredibly useful. It already saved Kassa’s life and I am much stronger than I was before, due to the hardening.

“If you… conquer a few more dungeons, I will have permission to tell you.”

“Right…” I don’t know how long that will be, though.

In the end, I push the talk aside and start what I came out to do. I activate the levitation patterns and jump up.

My speed from the initial jump isn’t reduced at all and when I reach a suitable height, as the ground starts disappearing in the fog, I counteract the initial force and crawl to an almost still position. Seriously, what is this fog? It’s so problematic to deal with.

I position my horizontally and start producing force at the bottom of my feet in order to accelerate. It goes slowly at first, but quickly gets very fast. The air brushes harshly against my face. Isn’t this way faster than running? I try to turn, but it is very difficult. The forces I make don’t turn with my body. They keep their cardinal direction, unless I constantly adjust it, making turns and more complicated maneuvers much more complicated than I had initially hoped.

A few hours are then spend flying around. I start testing the limits of what I can do. I do somersaults, rolls and make waves like a flying dolphin. When I am finally run out of magic, I crash to the ground. My clothes don’t get too messed up, since I was flying fairly low at the time. And then I realize my mistake; that I don’t even know where I am. All I can see around me is simply grassy hills and a few trees.

I try my best at a read magic. I can get some information even behind the fog with it. But all it returns is a few scattered signals, probably from roaming monsters, instead of the massive hub I was hoping for. I feel myself panic a little.

What idiot would I be if I seriously got lost and separated from my group as if I was a child, whose hand needed to be held? I try to orientate myself, but I have no idea which direction the city could be in. I lean in to my lifeline.

“Uhh, Dixy?” We had both just been mad at each other, but hopefully she will look past that.

“What is it?” Her tone was rather cold.

“Can you by chance… Help me find back to the city?”

No response came for a few seconds.

“Rather than going back, isn’t this the perfect opportunity for leaving the useless ones?”

“No it is not. Do you have a way back?”

“Nono, think about. You can get so much more done if you don’t waste so much of the day with them! You can master more magic, become stronger and conquer more dungeons!”

“That’s enough of that! Do you have a way back or not? If you don’t, or you’re not helping, I am not speaking to you until I find my way back.”

“Then, if I do show you the way back, will you spend more time with me again?” Dixy asks. “Promise to spend every night with me and I’ll tell you.”

“Why are you so set on talking? Isn’t it fine that I am merely practicing magic?”

“Do you have any idea how boring it is to be a book? I sit in your bag all day doing nothing but waiting for you to do something with me, and this last half month has been hell, what with me barely having any chance to speak at all!”

It surprised. I thought Dixy would be fine with it for some reason. But I guess it is her own fault for pretending to be less… sentient. Her little speech makes me think of the time I spent encased in metal. It makes me feel like a horrible person.

But it is realistic. I can’t spend every night with her, depending on my circumstances.

“How about I promise to at least check in with you every day?” I ask.

“At least an hour a day!”

“Half an hour?”

“Okay…” Dixy sighs, which I didn’t know she could. “Turn left. No, that’s a little too far. Keep going a little more right. That’s it.” Seems Dixy too possesses the uncanny sense of direction. I am thankful, though, as just twenty minutes of running later, the city comes into view. I wonder if I am the only person in the world able to get lost?

“Hey Dixy… Thanks. It means a lot to me to be able to stay with these people.”

“Hmph, you better keep your end of the deal.”

It was still a while away from morning, so I spent the remainder of time till morning making good on my promise.