The room was simple. An elegant light grey wallpaper alternating strips in different shades, a bureau with a chair, a simple table near the windows, with another three chairs, and a double bed, only the wooden frame, no mattress. Soft light and fresh air entered through the semi-opened windows, and bird songs as well.

“Where are we?” asked Sirinn. “Where is Vella?”

“No idea, dear.”

It sounded so well to say: dear, for her. She had a dear one. That was a nice thought, but dire was a better-suited word to use in those circumstances.

The room had windows to an inner courtyard and only one door. Timidly, after listening for sounds, they opened it and reached a couloir. They found a kitchen, a dining room, a sitting room, and a shared bathroom. All had wallpaper. It looked like one of the old houses from Ohst, out of fashion even before fashion was invented.

“Should we proceed?” asked Sirinn, showing the entry door which was ajar. They could see mountains and a sky with little white sheep-like clouds.

“I don’t know… I can not read anything.”

“Well, since we are here… let me find some weapon, just in case he jumps on us.”

He returned to the kitchen, searched the drawers, and found a big knife.

The door led them to a terrace, so big it dwarfed the house, enveloping it on all sides. They were atop of a tower, so tall it nearly touched the clouds. The building stood in the middle of an island, and the island in the middle of a lake. It was miles long and wide, surrounded by mountains and hills of the welcoming type, full of meadows and orchards. The landscape was beautiful.

“I know this place from my trial… from the nice one, not the bad one. I was here, I Saw it...”

“There is Sem,” whispered Sirinn, pointing. “He’s with his back toward us; I could push him over the railing.”

Their foe was deeply breathing the fresh air, looking into the distance. Before Sirinn had the time to go on with his plan, Sem turned and looked at them. The amulet was at his neck.

“Confirmation. Primary target, acquired. Consternation. Aloneness is not achieved. Intruders' presence in the negative minus two. Evaluating new situations.”

And then Sem stopped talking and just stared into nothing.

“He’s hallucinating?” wondered Estella. “Don’t push him; let’s find more. He seems on the verge of collapsing anyway; that wound is terrifying.”

“Recruiting new crew in the positive. Reaching again full connexion power in three… two… one.”

And then, Sem collapsed backward, face up.

Estella went to the body, raised the head with one hand, and pulled the amulet chain with the other. She hanged it at his neck and went to the railing, leaning on it, admiring the landscape.

“Let’s go, my love,” asked Sirinn. Our work it’s done. Maybe we can figure a way back.”

She turned toward him, and her eyes were showing not love but coldness.

“The princess and the romantic beauhemian. A decent start for a crew…”

“Estella?”

“She’s not here, beauhemian.”

“Who are you? What have you done to her?” he shouted.

“Nothing,” replied Estella. “She’s just… unavailable for now.”

He thrust himself forward, grabbed her arm, and raised the knife.

“Get out of her, whoever you are, or I’ll… I’ll…”

She starred at him, showing no emotion.

He threw the weapon and let her go.

“Take me instead!” he begged.

“I will not. She suits me better.”

“What do you want? ” he asked through his clenched teeth, his fists clenched as well.

“I want this,” she pointed all-around at the landscape, “and her,” she pointed at herself. “And you,” she pointed at him.

“Why? Why don’t you just take the amulet and leave?”

She laughed a condescending laugh.

“The amulet? Look,” she pointed up. “Have you not noticed the sky?”

Sirinn lost his footing, feeling like he was falling into an endless pit. Above, the sky was not blue, like on the horizon, but dark as night. A giant planet and its two moons shined brightly.

“We’re in space, above the Realm, beauhemian. On a ship designed by the Captain and his son, Santiago. After the first war with the Others and the Cataclysm, they build this, a sort of escape pod, if humans had to flee again. Santiago tunneled a huge piece from the Realm in space, where bots and nanobots developed by the Captain did the rest. Did you notice they even do agriculture? This ship is like no other. It has technology and magic far beyond anything in this galaxy, and the latter is the best part. The Arch is enveloped in a magical pseudo-universe skin. Impenetrable, and it works as protection, gravity generator, energy source, and engine simultaneously. Fifty miles in diameter, twenty-five miles from top to bottom. One thousand levels beyond the ground. It can permanently host one hundred million people and, for the short term, almost a billion. People or soldiers. And now that I’ve got my hands on it, I need a crew. She’s a Quevedo; I could use her powers to enhance the ship’s magic. She’ll be the new Captain. And you...”

“And me what!” he hissed.

“And you’ll keep her happy, beauhemian, what else? You love each other. Once the ship reaches my system, I’ll modify her brains, so she obeys my orders without my permanent presence, and you will be able to spend time together. I can keep you alive for thousands of years. I’m a good master; you’ll have a much better life with me than on the Realm. What do you think her parents will say? Yes! Go for it! Marry this punk, Sir No One from Whateverland; oh, how happy we are! Not! And she fears you. Will you be able to wait until she’s a real grown-up to be intimate? She is torn between the thought to lose you or to please you, yet she abhors even the thought of intercourse.”

“I’ll wait no matter how many years. I love her! LET HER GO! I swear I’ll find a way to get you out of her!”

“This is a futile idea, beauhemian. Who do you think I am?”

“How should I know?” he replied. “An evil spirit? A parasite? Some bug or worm or intelligent microbes? ”

“You don’t do justice to your beloved one, Sirinn. The first is just a superstition, and the latter would be too weak to vanquish her powers. She is powerful, a true Quevedo. The only one who had felt me, seen me. Not even the Realm felt me, not even the Magic saw me, yet she did. I’ll tell you who I am, Sirinn. I am a sentient star, a patron of the Sentient Realms Association. I’m projecting my will in-between dimensions and connect to her mind like a thin, powerful beam of light. It would be more accurate to say that I’m not IN her but ON her.”

“Let her be! You know who his parents are. They’ll follow her to the stars if needed.”

“It is too late now; no one can stop me anymore. It took a while and a great deal of risk, but I’ve done it, I’ve got the prize, the ship. Two years ago, that beauhemian, Alienor, searched my archive for secrets. Instead, it was me who found secrets in her mind, secrets she didn’t know she knew. Things his father saw in the Realm’s mind and shrank down to a scale he understood. An amulet? No, not an amulet. A contact key to this ship, a priceless treasure that is disregarded by the Realm. After all, humans are happy with me, he says. They don’t need it, he says, let it go round and round, who cares. He doesn’t understand its power. So I’ve sent the army to Alienor and connected to her mind, working slowly toward my goal. It was hard work, I tell you that. A lot of finesse was involved. I didn’t possess Alienor, just pushed things in the right direction, whispering ideas in her mind. You see, this is the Realm’s turf. Taking by force one of his symbiote's mind is not something that’d go unnoticed; with a snap of his fingers, he would have thrown me away. The plan was that she would lead me to the amulet, and once on the ship, you see what would have happened,” Estella showed to herself. “Here, the Realm is powerless. Yet, I almost failed. Suddenly, when my plans were inches to come to fruition, guess what? Some kids appear in a village and beat Alienor in a blink of an eye. I had to jump ship, so to speak, and took over Sem. He is no symbiot of the Realm; my task was so much easier. From then on, it was all smoke and mirrors, a lot of fog, and make-believe. I had to adapt; I even had to sacrifice my army… And my plan B, albeit made in haste, succeeded. I made your Berserker, who would have seen my true nature in the light of the moons, leave. I turned you on Alienor. And so on, and so on. I’ll tell you this: I’ve calculated the probabilities almost to the last bullet of the bloodthirsty girl. I was off only by one bullet. She should have cut the head of the Wasp Queen, not shoot her. If not for that small error, she’d be dead, and you would not be here now, you’d be grieving and the stuff you do, but now that you are… well, make yourself useful.”

“So Sem was innocent…” sighed Sirinn. “You have a lot of blood on your hands, monster.”

“Oh, him?” she pushed the body with her boot. “Don’t mind him; he’s just a civil servant. Half clone, half robot. I amused myself sometimes with his reports. Very naive.”

“You’re one of a kind of a monster, you piece of…”

“Me, a monster? On the contrary. I’m the hero here. I’m taking this ship from incompetent hands to put it to good use. Do you know the Realm’s nickname among the Sentient Realms? Crazy fifty-five. Because he is like those old ladies who gather tens of cats or dogs in their houses, despite the smell and the noise. He’s an idiot who’s pets are the mongrels of the multiverse. Humans? Violent and entertainment dependent. Beauhemians? Filthy vagrant scoundrels. The dwarves and elves? Morons, role-playing the roles assigned to them by human fantasy literature. The reds could raise a civilization in a month if needed. That’s a good symbiot, not the Realmers. Yes, they do tend to revolt a lot, yes, I have to keep them mind-controlled all the time, but they do the job in the end. Now, Sirinn, you have a choice. Come with me. You’ll love each other for millennia. I think this is a fair deal, beauhemian. Take it.”

“And if not? What if take you and jump over the rail?”

“Goodness, aren’t you stupid! There’s a forcefield around. Who would construct such a tall building without safeties? If not, I’ll transport you back. I am a benevolent entity, told you. But let’s cut to the chase; I know already what will happen. I read probabilities, remember? Like her, only at star power level. In ten seconds, your will will be broken.”

He sighed after five.

“I’ll do it.”

“I’ll leave you two alone for one moment.”

Estella remained thoughtful for a second, then jumped on Sirinn’s neck, crying.

“Go away, Sirinn. Please go for my sake. Be free.”

“Freedom is where you are, my love. It’s my choice.”

He kissed her shortly on the lips. After their lips parted, she shuddered, and her eyes became glassy again.

“I hope you appreciated the gift. Beginning departure procedures. The jump will occur in one minute.”