I was tired. I had already played for hours, and I feared that my online time was running short.

I sighed. Should I call it quits and continue another day?

But what if this was my only chance to fix it? What if I don't find any other working solution?

Maybe I need to restart this whole thing. What if I go to the gamers' location and try to login there? Maybe they can even help me login with Cala? They may find her data on some backup server! I have given up too early on her! What if her not being available does not have anything to do with me 'becoming' Cala and is only the result of some data lost? Or even if they cannot, maybe, I find somebody there with a high enough character that could help me out? Would that not have better chances to succeed than me trying to solve this with a low-level Andy?

I felt a sting in my heart. Why do I feel this compulsion to save the Lynx? Is this because of that soul-fuckery?

But it pained even more to think at what the Lynx had done as soul-fuckery.

No, he saved my poor ass. I need to ask him about all other implications that the spell might have. It is not only him that I care about.

I raised my head and looked at the sky. It will soon be getting dark. I better hurry up if I still want to do something today. Can I ever bring Cala back to the game if I removed her? How the hell did I remove her from the server?

No, it was more probable that it was some data loss with the game's status.

But then, does it matter if I save them?

I shook my head: Dolores, STOP running in circles!

No. If I cannot find a solution with Andy, I'll try to talk with the gamers and find a solution with them. Maybe I can still reactivate my connection with them; at least they still accept me as one of them.

Rummaging on those questions, I found myself in front of a clean but old-looking shop: Old Hanner's Emporium. A very original name written with barely visible white paint on grey murals above the entry: Old Hanner's shop, written in old drusily.

I rolled my eyes then my grin got wider: by the looks of it, 'Old' had been added at a later time to the shop's name. Probably some jerk's joke.

It was obvious that the owner did not give too much on appearances: there were several much better-looking shops around that all seemed to be specialized in various spellcraft items, so I wondered why Loana would recommend this shop above all.

Some shops already had a 'closed' banner; therefore, I was happy to see this one seemed to be open.

As I entered, a bell rang, but there was nobody inside the room. I heard a voice from the back of the shop, so I waited patiently, inspecting various items. Finally, an old dwarf appeared. I think it was one of the oldest-looking dwarfs I'd ever seen, with a silver-white beard and a completely bald head.

“Good evening, miss; what can an old enchanter do for you?”

He said that whilst going to the door and turning on the 'closed' banner.

He was in a surprisingly good temper. Not sure if this was his day-to-day mood or if I was only lucky.

“Mr. Hanner, I hope you can help me with a quest I would like to complete.”

He raised a brow:

“Help, I'll try, young lady; however, good pay for good help is what I expect. You can call me Hanner or old Hanner if you wish so, no need for mister.”

"Andy!" - I replied, giving him my hand to shake hands.

This was an automatic Cala gesture, and I realized suddenly that his hand was about two times larger than mine; however, I was relieved to see how gentle his touch was, even if I felt a lot of power behind it. A very high-level enchanter. Well, let's see what he can do. I did not lose any more time:

“I have some friends that cannot come out from a cavern. The way out is much too narrow. I was thinking of sending them a portal scroll or something.”

“Hrm. Sorry young miss, I do not know any spell for sending something. That is not within my specialty. Is it not possible to enlarge the entry? There are many mining specialists in this town that could do such work with ease?”

He seemed genuinely sorry about that, but I still didn't want to give up on the idea.

"The cavern is far away from here, and the area is hazardous. There is little time left; I need to be fast. I might have a way to send them something if it is small enough.” - he raised a brow at that whilst I continued - “How much would a portal scroll cost me?”

He smiled, happy that he could answer this question:

“It depends on where your two portal points are: entry and exit. All portal scrolls I have are standard form, as big as a scroll is. I could make it as low as five gold if it is somewhere near this town and points to this town. It will work in a ten kilometers range around the town. From where to where do you want that portal?”

I sighed.

“The entry would be on Terica.”

He harrumphed and raised a brow, surprised at this.

“From Terica to here? That is a different continent!?" - I nodded, and he continued - "That would be several thousand gold, and I would need time to prepare it. I do not have all materials here for such a portal scroll. I suppose your friends are not very small? If they would be mice, that could come out a bit cheaper.”

“Ahm. Oh well, a couple of them are huge.”

He chuckled and raised his brows:

“You just increased manifold the price, but this is useless talk. I do not have such a scroll. In the case, I could order one, how big is really big? Like a cow?”

"Bigger"

He harrumphed again:

"OK, a giant Ogre?"

I sighed.

“Oh well, something like a house.”

"A house? A house?"

"A two-story house."

There was silence in the shop for several seconds, then he replied with a sight:

“That goes over ten thousand gold, young Andy. But why would you make the portal to here when you could make it closer to there? That would save you a lot of money; you see portals go with the range. You need an archmage's power to make portals between continents.”

I shrugged.

"Can you make a portal for Terica to Terica?"

He swallowed.

"No. I've never been on Terica and could not bind it to any of their cities." - he sighed - "you need an archmage that had traveled there and a lot of gold."

He sighed, and I echoed him. It seemed that I had no solution to my problem. Just when I was about to leave, he turned toward one of his exhibits.