The next few days pass by uneventfully. At first, everything seems new to me due to the fact that I was gone for two weeks. I needed more than a few reminders to get it in my head that I was the one who had been gone, to everyone else, nothing new had happened.

The day after we returned, in the Metorium, Drew gave me a small piece of advice: “You should go to the training center and work on your maneuverability when using burst. Being fast is good, but you should also be able to move around reasonably well else your speed will do more harm than good.

“And when you’re done with the training, there’s a maneuverability test on the Floor of Challenges that you can take. If you can successfully pass that challenge, you’ll have no movement problems until you become a Wranth.”

“Wait, I thought the Floor of Challenges is meant for only Protectors.” I begin to nod when I remember what Lathia had told me during our partial tour of the Metorium.

Drew shrugs. “That’s true, officially. To be honest, anyone can challenge it. Look, around the time the Laen first began to grow, it was only Protectors and above who could challenge it without getting seriously injured. But things have changed recently, we’re much stronger than people at our level had been hundreds of years ago so we can use the floor without getting injured. Heck, even I started using the floor when I was an Apprentice just like you.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, slightly disbelieving.

He claps me on my shoulder. “Trust me.”

I left him feeling unsure. In the end, I push it to the back of my mind. I can think about it once I finish the maneuverability training.

In school, Keldin remains as obnoxious as ever. Still, all I can do is keep my dissatisfaction to myself. After all, I know that should I try anything funny he’d probably pound my ass into the ground. The feeling of being suppressed by a child is suffocating, but it is what it is. All I can do is take note of the feeling and use it to drive my thirst to get stronger. Tobi, Bella and Han, however, make things a bit easier for me, especially with their scathing remarks on Keldin’s behavior. They also tell me a few stories which help me understand their dislike of Keldin.

After a few days, I get an idea and ask Drew to show me the way into the Lands of Time. He takes me into the In-between and draws a noer midair. He says, “If you look closely at each portal, you’ll see that they each have a noer in the center. It’s a bit hard to see at first but if you look closely enough you will see them.”

I look hard at the nearest portal, focusing on the center. At first, nothing happens, but then I see it. A white noer almost invisible within the very white blue glow of the portal. The moment I see it, the secrets of the portals are suddenly open to me. I look at the noer that Drew had drawn and quickly find it among the numerous portals around us.

“There.” I point towards the portal and Drew nods before drawing three more noers in the air.

“You’ll use this noer to get back to the In-between, just know that it takes quite a lot of Uua to activate it but you should have enough, this one leads to the Metorium as you know and finally this leads to Hugo’s bookshop.” He points to the three noers in turn.

It doesn’t take me long to commit the noers to memory. The next day, Thursday, after classes and some maneuverability training in the training center, I decided to head to the Lands of Time. It is morning when I appear in the Lands. It feels strange being in the Lands alone but I ignore the feeling, throwing myself into my training. Towards midday, I finally exit it, having had enough of training for one day.

* * * * * *

I walk into the bookshop and notice Drew and the others waiting for me. “Good morning.” I greet cheerfully. They greet back, even the twins who seem to have forgotten they were unhappy with me. “You look really happy this morning?” Lathia closes the book she had been reading before I came in.

“Should I be unhappy?” I raise my eyebrows. She doesn’t reply, choosing instead to just shake her head.

As we get ready to go into the Metorium, Hugo appears with a deep frown on his face. He calls all of us as his look changes to that of worry.

“I need you guys to be extremely careful from now on.”

“Did something happen?” Drew asks.

Hugo nods. “You should have heard about the murders that have been happening recently. Each involving four people? There was another one yesterday night. Until we catch the Fasuru involved, I want you all to be very careful. Avoid the east side of the city as much as possible. The murders seem to be focused there.”

We all nod seriously. “Why is it doing this? The Fasuru? Isn’t it scared of you guys?” I can’t help but ask.

Hugo shrugs. “Some Fasurus are crazy enough not to care about how much they’re risking themselves. The murders are a way for them to get stronger. Either it’s a weakened Fasuru trying to regain its strength, or it's a weak one trying to get stronger really quickly. To be honest, we are all hoping it's the latter.”

“Why?”

Hugo gives me a meaningful look. “If it is a Fasuru trying to regain its strength, then judging from the number of people it’s killed, its strength will be at least at Wranth level. Most likely stronger than that. I doubt I need to explain why that's troublesome. If you are ever in trouble, activate this noer and I’ll get there as quickly as possible.” He draws a noer in the air. After reminding us once more to stay safe, he finally lets us go.

When we get to the In-between, Lathia turns to Drew who had been deep in thought ever since Hugo spoke to us. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” He says. “I’m just trying to figure out which Fasuru is doing all this. It obviously isn’t a weak one trying to get stronger.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because,” Emma answers, “while it might have gotten away with it a thousand years ago, it can’t now. A Fasuru would have to be really stupid to give up everything just to regain some strength. Besides, if it was a weak one, they wouldn’t still be looking for it, it’d have been caught long ago. So it has to be a weakened Fasuru trying to quickly regain its strength.”

Drew nods before adding. “And for a Fasuru that strong, there’s basically nothing that could have weakened it in recent times. Unless…”

“It participated in the war!” Lathia exclaims and Drew nods.

“Now what I want to know is which powerful Fasuru living near here survived the war.”

For a moment everyone is silent. “I’ll check the library for any information,” Emma says.

“Wait a moment,” I say, “Mister Hugo just warned us to be careful so why are you guys trying to find out which Fasuru is doing this.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Lathia rolls her eyes, “It’s not as if we are going to the east side of the city. We’re only trying to help the Fasuru be caught faster.”

“As Protectors, it would be against everything we’ve been taught to just let a Fasuru that’s committing serial murder go free like that. So we must do our best to help.” Drew’s words sound alright, but something in his tone makes me uncomfortable.

I look around and realize that even though they are silent, Emma and the twins seem to agree with Drew. Ever since the war was mentioned the entire mood has become awkward. Once again I can’t help wondering what exactly happened during the war. I make up my mind to go to the library and look for a book on Laen history. Hopefully, they record their history.