“It’s only fair,” the Star said. “You cost me a skill gem, so you’ll help me get a replacement. Herbology would have been better, but I’ll settle for spellcraft.” He laughed.

Droplets of sweat formed on Dallion’s forehead. Whatever the trick the Star had pulled off, it had instantly removed all of Dallion’s advantages. All of his familiars and echoes were frozen, his combat splitting had been rendered useless, and none of his weapons could be drawn. Dallion had discretely tried to draw his Nox dagger, but found that it refused to move from its sheath. The only things that were allowed to move along with him were his clothes.

“Did you get rid of the echo?” Arthurows changed the subject. “She was fun, though I never liked her too much. Goths are so last age, although who knows? Maybe they’ll make a comeback.”

Dallion still had the means to level the playing field in a fight against the Star. Unfortunately, it was located in his backpack.

“I’m not giving you the gem.” Dallion tried his best to keep voice composed. However, even he could feel the occasional tremble as he spoke. The Star noticed it as well, for he grinned, moving closer.

“It’s not like I’m asking you to join my side or anything. All I want is a skill gem you can never use. Quite a good deal, when you think about it. Do that and I’ll get out of your life. You won’t have anything to worry about. I’ll even include your friends and local family in the deal. You’ll get to be with Eury.”

The proper thing to do was refuse right out. Yet, fear had a way of tempting people. The Star’s power could be felt even now. With Dallion being past the fourth awakening gate, the Moons were no longer watching over him, especially since he was venturing into the Star’s domain.

“The atherbird can’t release a gem,” Dallion replied instead.

“There we go.” The Star clapped. “Good point, but untrue. The phoenix is a living exception. It can create a gem if it wants to. The difficult part is to catch it, as Havoc probably told you. That was the reason for the argument, in fact.”

“You were listening in?” Dallion froze.

Had his paranoia been true all this time? He was afraid that the Star was constantly watching him. When sharing his fears with others, all of them had laughed, reassuring him that it was all in his mind. In time he had believed them, only to find that he had been right all along.

“I’m the Star,” Arthurows said with a menacing wink. “The last hunt of the phoenix was a deal between the Academy, the hunter group, and yours truly.”

Dallion said nothing.

“The deal was simple: I help the Academy get the phoenix, they give me the spellcraft skill gem it creates. I shared the time and place, they created a way to keep the bird from escaping, and the hunters were supposed to do the deed.”

“Why them?”

“The mages don’t seem to like the south for some reason. Can’t imagine why.” The Star disappeared. “So, the hunters went down here,” he said, appearing on the other side of Dallion. “They found the mountain, and used the contraption to trap the phoenix.”

“But let it go,” Dallion added.

“Only an empath would think that.” The Star shook his head. “They captured it, but refused to give it to the mages. Instead, all they offered was a bag of feathers. You can guess what happened next.”

Things made a whole lot more sense now. At such expectations, it was understandable why a mage would destroy a building and go through the trouble to kill or banish everyone involved. The only thing that didn’t make sense was the Star’s reaction. While it wasn’t like he could openly complain, he had the power to exact punishment on the hunters whenever he wanted, not to mention he could confront Eury’s teacher directly.

“You’re thinking why didn't I get the hunters to reveal the location of the phoenix?” the Star asked. “The thing is, I did. It took me a while, but I managed to have a chat with them without breaking any of the Moon’s rules. Three guesses as to how the conversations ended.”

“You killed them…”

“Got it in one. Don’t worry, though.” The Star disappeared, then appeared again a step away from Dallion. “I told you I won’t kill you.” He placed his hand on Dallion’s shoulder. “As Earthlings we must stick together. I know it might not seem like it, but I care about you. You’d achieved a lot, much more than the others from back home.”

Dallion twisted around, shoving the Star’s hand off his shoulder. The moment he did, however, the Star was no longer there.

“They have such small ambitions. All they wanted was to become some minor nobles and take part in the imperial game. Some became mages, as you well know. Those guys are amusing, though I wouldn’t call them trustworthy.”

“You’ve seen them?”

“Who do you think made a deal with capturing the phoenix? The hunters weren’t my idea. The mages were so confident they could find someone competent. I would have gone with someone a lot more driven. Still, it is what it is.” The Star shrugged. “All that’s important is whether you’re willing to make a deal.”

Part of Dallion wanted to say yes. Doing so would let him find the phoenix, and more importantly give him a break from the Star, at least until he became strong enough to take him on.

I can’t trust the Star, Dallion thought. If any of his echoes or guardians had the ability to talk, they’d tell him the same thing.

“Having second thoughts?” The Star disappeared again. Dallion looked around, only this time, it was nowhere to be seen. “I’ll tell you when to find the phoenix. If you catch it, I expect to be given what I’m owed.”

“And if I don’t find it?” Dallion kept on looking around.

“If you don't, Countess Priscord will make sure you’re not my problem. Oh, and if you find it, but pretend you don’t… this isn’t the first time a hunter tried to con me.”

The sun darkened. It wasn’t like anything else Dallion had seen even in the realms. It wasn’t at all like night falling; rather, the sun itself turned into a black hole in the sky, while its light continued somehow to fall onto the ground.

“The next seven days, the phoenix will be at the top of the mountain whenever the Purple Moon is full,” the voice of the Star echoed about. “After that you’ll lose it.”

Dallion opened his mouth to respond when inertia thrust him forward. Reflexes kicked in, making him leap into the air, then burst into a dozen instances.

Feeling crazy? Gleam asked, more surprised than annoyed.

Once Dallion landed, he watched the whip blade make a turn in the distance and fly up to him. This was strange, as if someone had turned on time again, returning everything as it was except for him.

If you want me to stop, just say so, the shardfly commented.

“Is anyone around?” Dallion asked, grabbing his Nox dagger. “Any illusions or anything?”

No… I would have said something if there were.

“Nox?”

Nothing, the crackling purred.

Still gripping the weapon, Dallion rushed back to the spot where he had the conversation with the Star.

What are you looking for, dear boy? Nil asked.

“I don’t know,” Dallion lied. “I thought I saw something.”

Might be a secondary effect of your bleeding. Sometimes permanent effects are more annoying than they seem.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

A few minutes later Dallion was on his way again, using the whip blade as a vehicle once more. One thing he had done before stepping on it was to take out the anti-Star artifact he carried and tucked it in his left boot. Nil made a few remarks on the topic only to receive a vague answer.

Seven days—that was the amount of time Dallion had to reach the top of the mountain. One entire day went in reaching the valley, even with the help of Gleam. It was at that point that an unexpected discovery was made. The valley itself—or the crater as it seemed—wasn’t the one Dallion had visited before. The jungle and overall features of the area seemed similar to what he had been to a while back, though not the landmarks.

“Any explanation, Nil?” Dallion asked, looking at the series of mountains that emerged above the layer of vegetation.

Apparently, more that the Star’s kingdom had been buried here, the echo replied. On the positive side, at least you don’t get to face the dragon.

“The question is what will I face?”

That remains to be seen. Or you could summon Dark and avoid the valley altogether.

“I don’t think he’ll show up, Nil.”

Then there’s no harm in trying, dear boy.

As expected, the dragon didn’t show up, leaving Dallion with one single option. The Star must have known about this when sharing the information. There was no way for a normal person to cross the valley in time, let alone climb the mountain on the other side. Gleam could go it a lot faster, though that presented a new problem. Dallion didn’t feel it was prudent to fly during the night. As good as his perception was, there were creatures in the wilderness with a far better perception than his. To be on the safe side, it was decided that instead of one long flyover, Dallion would engage in a series of shorter flights from mountain top to mountain top. There he’d spend the night, before moving on the following morning.

The first flight lasted less than an hour. With the sun setting already, Dallion only wanted to get an idea of any potential creatures that could be a threat. Thankfully for him, none of the beasts wanted to climb the mountain preferring the comfort of the desert jungle below. Just to make sure both Ruby and Gleam fluttered about around the resting spot on the lookout for threats.

Meanwhile, Dallion sat down and played a tune on his harpsisword. Chords full of disinterest filled the air, removing all curiosity from the creatures that heard them. This continued for the entire night. At the crack of dawn, the flying continued.

Every now and then, Dallion would catch a glimpse of creatures the size of buildings making their way through the jungle. One even split into instances and threw massive rocks in Dallion’s direction. Dallion didn’t even bother to do the same, preferring to force an instance in which the creature missed.

Land-based attackers weren’t Dallion’s major concern. The lack of birds, on the other hand, was. Back in the other part of the fallen south, the skies were full of seagulls. Here, there wasn’t a single one to be seen, and Dallion didn’t think it was because of rock throwers.

“Geep an eye out,” he said. “There might be something.”

The end of the valley became visible in the distance. Focusing, Dallion was even able to see the peak of the mountain he was supposed to climb. By the looks of it, he was going to be able to reach it by the end of the day, giving him plenty of time to find the phoenix.

“Gleam?” Dallion asked. “Anything?”

There’s nothing up to the horizon, the shardfly grumbled. Why so jumpy?

“If flying over this place was so easy, don’t you think the Star of the Academy would have done so by now?”

The monsters aren’t that strong, and they are on the ground.

“All mages as well as the Star can fly. There must be some other reason to—”

An attack slammed into the whip blade from beneath, getting Dallion off balance. It felt as if a threat cutter had slammed into the blade with the intent to slice it and Dallion himself in two. The only reason the strike had failed was the indestructible quality of the weapon.

“Where’s it at?” Dallion split into fifty instances, all of them drawing a weapon.

A split second later, another attack followed, slicing forty-one of those instances. Immediately Dallion did a line attack with his remaining instances. The line of destruction flew forward like a thread, only to be snapped in the middle. In its place another line formed—a line of crystal, indicating something hiding beneath an illusion.

Run! Gleam shouted, tilting the whip blade almost directly down. We need to hide somewhere safe!

“Why? Who are we facing?”

A spectral butterfly. One a lot stronger than me.