{Jonathan, can you teach me how to use Power before you go?} Dorian asked, {I want to send that message to the Crimson Colony.}

{Of course, but I will have to set up the system first,} Jonathan told him.

{Just how different is your system from ours?} Selina asked, {Would I be able to adjust ours so all kinds of magic could be traded?}

{Possibly,} Jonathan mused, {I could help if you let me-}

{I appreciate the offer but I would prefer if you didn,} Dorian broke in, {Just because you are likely a Knight does not mean everything you do is right or trustworthy.}

{If a knight only does noble and honorable things he is destined to lose one day,} Jonathan replied with a smile, {The Oracle said they needed a revolution. They need someone who can succeed, not someone trustworthy.}

It was an unsettling argument, and even more unsettling when Howard realized he was right. As untrustworthy as he was, Jonathan was a genius. He also happened to be the base image Howard had used when imagining the genius that caused the whole mess in the first place.

{I wonder if the letter sending method could work for people,} Howard wondered, {We wouldn’t have to worry about using Power or setting up some new system if we could just send someone along with it. Preferably someone with Dream so they wouldn’t scare the others in the Crimson Colony.}

{I could do it,} Azul offered, {I have considered going to the crimson colony before, and I can travel through the sky as a backup.}

{I am not sure sending a person through that method is a good idea,} Dorian said, {The spells people use to travel are a lot more precise, though I do know the classic portal spell.}

{The classic portal spell?} Selina asked with extreme interest.

{It involves knowing where you are going,} Dorian continued, {So it would not work very well on the way there.}

{Like I said, I have other ways of travelling,} Azul mentioned with a smile, {I am the natural person to send. Besides, I want to see what this place is like. My main question is how do I identify this Black Knight?}

{Maybe they have black somewhere?} Miranda suggested, looking at Denewulf’s white hair and Jonathan’s red eyes.

{If it is the Sage I doubt it. Were they the Sage?} Natalie asked.

{The Oracle never said that,} Denewulf answered, {but Nova has black hair and she can make fire.}

{That is because I come from another world with magic,} Nova pointed out.

{Do you think it is another outsider?} Selina wondered.

{It is also possible that Black might be referring to something else,} Leon mused, {Maybe they are goth?}

{What about their house,} Howard realized, looking at the tree they were in, {Since the house is grown with magic, black might have a meaning there.}

{That is true,} Azul agreed, {I will get ready. Prepare the message and I will come get it later.}

{Send us more messages when you can so we know you are safe,} Dorian told her, {Don’t risk your life over a message.}

{I’ll be careful,} she promised, {I have been surviving outside of a colony for years. I can handle myself.}

Now that she mentioned it, Howard remembered how difficult it was to live outside of a colony and wondered what it was like for her in the beginning. Likely nothing he wanted to think too deeply about.

Dorian started focusing on creating the message and Howard looked it over to make sure everything important was in it. This would take a while to look over but hopefully it was important enough that the Black Knight would finish it.

Howard was still worried when they handed over the charm carrying the telepathic mark to Azul. Shortly after receiving it, Azul left.

{Do you think she knows where the Crimson Colony is?} Dorian asked.

{She seemed confident when she left,} Nova noted, {She also kept mentioning travelling through the sky.}

{Sanders is the only one who knows where it is,} Howard realized.

{No. We were headed there,} Denewulf spoke up, {It is actually nearby.}

{It is?} Selina asked.

{Yes. Near the peak of the mountain. The shorter one.}

Howard moved over to the window to check. At the top of the cliff was the base of that shorter mountain and Azul was headed in that direction on the back of a wyvern.

{She will make it before the sun rises,} Howard guessed, {No wonder she was so confident.}

___________

The wyvern landed on the ledge leading to the gates of the crimson colony and Azul slipped off its back. {You did well,} she told it and stroked the scales on its head before turning to the path. She had heard that it could be difficult to get into the Crimson Colony, but when she walked up to the gates there was not even anyone nearby.

Azul pushed the gate open and felt a strange sensation. She glanced around but no one was there still. As for the colony, all she saw was a collection of large boulders. Surely those weren’t the homes. Then her eyes landed on the obsidian monolith near the center. It was very black.

With no other clues she began to approach the monolith hoping that the monolith was home to the Black Knight. When she got close, and opening appeared and she went inside. Just as the opening closed behind her, a voice projected into her mind.

{A visit from our new friends in the valley? Should I feel honored? I knew that hiding our telepathic signals might cause a colony to show up close to us, but not that close, or that strange.}

{Have you been watching us?} Azul asked.

{Oh yes. It was hard to believe the reports, and it seems I was right to think so since you are here. The Wisdom obsessed freaks have finally cast you out.}

{That’s not why I am here,} Azul replied, {I came looking for the Black Knight. I have a message for them.}

There was no reply but a woman in all black descended from a stairway that had not been there before. Her hair was almost the same shade as Azul’s, but her eyes glowed the same teal as the leaves at night.

{I hope you realize what you have just asked,} the woman warned, {Because if I find you were just spitting nonsense I won’t be able to let you leave this place after seeing me.}

{You use Power,} Azul realized, and presented the charm.

{Ah, is that what it is called now. It used to be called something else, but now calling it that just seems wrong. Is that their fault as well?}

{See for yourself,} Azul answered as the woman took the charm and began to connect with the telepathic mark.