After the group ate a little, they decided to take turns keeping watch while the rest slept. Ben took the first shift and William had been on the second shift for a little over an hour now.

While he sat next to Aaron and his sleeping friends, his eyes lingered in the darkness of the plain. His thoughts circled around the whole story of the Three Gods Faith. Could this really be true? High-Magicians were the Apostles of the gods, tasked with taming the dragons? That sounded pretty crazy, no wonder Philippa had turned away from the belief. But what about Cale? He had never mentioned anything along those lines, except that night in the desert. What other reason would he have to challenge the dragons if not for this task?

William shook his head as if that would get rid of the thought, but it clung to him even tighter. At some point he would ask Cale about the subject, that much was certain. After all, even William thought some things Cale did seemed very strange.

When Aaron moved next to him, the swordsman was jolted out of his thoughts. He watched as the High-Magician screwed up his face before slowly opening his eyes.

"You're awake again", William sympathetically admitted, looking down at Aaron, who wasn't looking at him.

"I've seen my life pass me by", he confessed before coughing slightly and trying to move, but his body felt heavy. He couldn't lift his arm, let alone sit up. "Where are we?"

"Lie still, save your strength", William reported, getting up to walk closer to the campfire. "We are out of danger in a cave, far away from the mist."

Based on the statement, Aaron let his gaze slide around the room before relaxing and closing his eyes again. William, on the other hand, sat back down on the floor a scant meter away from him and leaned back against the wall before speaking up.

"How are you feeling?"

"I have a slight headache...", Aaron answered hesitantly. "... and can barely feel my body. The anesthesia of the pachendran is not without."

"You had been aware that a group of Pachendrans had attacked us?", William replied in amazement.

"Yes. I wanted to warn you before I blacked out", Aaron explained calmly, but when William let out a low groan, he opened his eyes again and looked up at the young swordsman. "What exactly happened? Are the others all right?"

"We're all fine. You were the only one who had inhaled the gas. Thank you for warning us. I don't know if we would have responded quickly enough otherwise", William explained with a smile on his face before turning away from Aaron and looking up at the ceiling. "Remember that conversation we had about Cale? Back then I meant that I couldn't tell you some things, but for one thing, Cale gave me permission today."

"You talked to Caleb?", the mage admitted in wonder, as if uncomfortable with the situation.

"Yes. When we were all in the mist and after you collapsed, we didn't know what to do at first. We ran away from the mana waves, but eventually got surrounded. Cale...", William began, pulling his sleeve up a bit before extending his left arm to Aaron. "... sealed his Igrikum into my arm, which I used today to protect us from the mana."

Turning his attention back to the prone Aaron, he saw on the man's face for the very first time something other than his usual expressionless self. Reflected on his face was the shock that Aaron's mouth was literally open.

"He did what?"

"Sealed his Igrikum in my arm."

"Caleb has... his Igrikum.... what? Why? By the Elder's beard... Has he gone mad? Do you know how dangerous it is for a 3rd stage mage to share his Igrikum?"

"I know, yes. I am well aware of how valuable the Igrikum is."

"Valuable is an understatement. The Igrikum, or rather nature's mana, is vital to us and you have the ability to dispose of it freely. It's as if you carry a piece of Cale's heart around with you and can make life and death decisions at any time."

"I know", William only replied while looking into Aaron's astonished face. At the statement, William had to think of Aletta. Cale's heart, she had explained something similar to him. But only now did he really become aware of the words. Cale could feel when William used his Igrikum. This was uncomfortable for William on one hand, but quite a relief on the other. He knew he would never be alone as long as he possessed the Igrikum.

"Who are you? Didn't you say you'd only known Caleb for a few months?", Aaron interjected reproachfully. "The kid has always been a very cautious person. How come he just trusted you with his Igrikum when you didn't even know each other?"

He returned the question with a shrug of his shoulders. William suspected that it was because of Cale's deceased friends, but did not want to bring this up. He had suspected this for weeks, but never had the heart to bring it up to Cale.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask him that yourself. I don't know why he puts so much trust in me."

"I just don't believe it", Aaron muttered. "I knew he trusted the three of you, but this is beyond my expectations. In all my life, I've never heard of a 3rd stage mage voluntarily shared his Igrikum with another human. I don't even want to imagine how that might feel for the kid. And for you, especially."

"It feels a little unusual, I must confess", William replied, without letting his gaze fall back to Aaron. "Like a traveling river that is life itself. I was really afraid of making a mistake and I also immediately apologized to Cale for just using his Igrikum. Do you know what he said?"

At the comment, he turned to Aaron, who looked at him expectantly.

"He didn't care. He didn't care at all that I used his Igrikum without asking. He just didn't want us to get hurt - including you, Aaron. When I told him at a later time that I couldn't keep the Igrikum a secret anymore, he just said that it was okay if I told all of you about it. He puts that much trust in us."

Aaron wanted to say something in reply, but remained silent. He really hadn't expected this. Ever since his first encounter with Cale, he had had great respect for him and was extremely cautious when he was present. His quiet, disinterested manner always reminded Aaron of himself and he couldn't wrap his head around the idea of a child being a mass murderer. It wasn't until Grischa befriended Cale that he began to see the High-Magician as an equal, even if he still maintained his distance from him. Sometimes he wondered if the Eldest knew from the beginning what role the 12th High-Magician played in Altona's future.

"Admitted, I just don't understand the kid sometimes", Aaron finally interjected. "I always thought he didn't like me."

"What makes you think that?", William retorted in wonder, ignorant of how Cale really felt about his relationship with Aaron.

"Intuition. He'd tried to talk to me at first, but eventually he just let it go and ignored me."

"Isn't that kind of your own fault?", the prince interjected. "In the last few weeks, you've been very dismissive of us, too, to the point where it's really bugged me. Cale probably wouldn't have felt any different."

"It wasn't my intention", Aaron replied honestly, managing to muster enough strength to put his arm over his eyes. "It takes me a while to warm up to people. Grischa had held the same thing against me, since - during his apprenticeship - I was very dismissive of him."

"People misunderstand such behavior", William replied. "But I can understand you. Very well, in fact. I was brought up not to trust a strange soul and to this day I still maintain that. It's only... since I became an Anuxer and made new friends that I realized how stupid my behavior was. I started to open up myself and that worked wonders. For the people around me and for my own soul."

"A step in the right direction."

"Definitely. I should have left the estate much earlier. Only then did I realize how big the world actually is and how limited my behavior was. I've seen and experienced so much in the last few weeks that I don't even want to go back and continue to explore the beauty of the world."

"I know the feeling", Aaron replied with a grin, which pleased William. "I traveled a lot in my youth, too, and I have to admit, there are places in the world where you don't believe they really exist."

"What places, then? Something like the Holy Island of Velence? Have you ever been there?"

"On the island of dragons? No, I'm not tired of life. I was talking more about towns in Altona or the true north", Aaron replied. "Though I'm not at all sure their beauty still stands."

"I'll get back to you sometime, and when I do, I want a listing of places that would really be worth visiting."

"Can be arranged", Aaron replied with amusement. For a few moments, neither of them said anything before Aaron brought his arm down and looked at William. "Liam."

"Hm?"

"Thanks for not leaving me behind."

"You sound way too depressed. That goes without saying, what's the point of having a group?", William replied amused. "Besides, we were pretty lucky. You probably wouldn't have had so much trouble if the creature hadn't attacked you first."

"I'm not so sure about that. If the Chronicles are to be believed, Pachedranan always focus on the one with the most mana first. Even if I had been alone, the same thing probably would have happened to me."

"I dare to doubt that. You probably would have just flown away, right?"

"No", Aaron confessed. "Admitted, I was curious what kind of creature it was. My bad decision put the whole group in danger. If anything had happened to you, I would never have been able to forgive myself, and neither, I suspect, would Caleb have."

William looked at the High-Magician wordlessly, not knowing how to respond to such a dismayed answer.

"Apology accepted", he therefore merely threw back, smiling at Aaron. He had made a similar mistake with the Calyfaren back then, so he couldn't be mad at Aaron at all. Bad things happened faster than you'd expect them to. "Get some rest, we'll wake you up in the morning."

Aaron didn't seem to complain much about it, because he just nodded and turned to the side. William breathed a sigh of relief and walked back to the exit of the cave. His eyes wandered over the landscape. It bore a resemblance to the creature plains in Altona, but was completely different. Huge canyons pierced the land, which could be seen very well from here. In the distance, the sea could be seen, but only very faintly. The moon illuminated the whole place and William had to think of the night in the desert. It was on the other side of Holy Island, staring into the distance as he thought of Cale.