She waited until he disappeared behind the bend of the staircase and opened the door, urging me inside.

-Come on, move it.

She was back to her tired self. Trying to pretend like she was fine took a bit out of her, that’s for sure.

-Aye, sir.

I followed her, closing the door behind me.

Inside didn’t change much since my last visit, that is if you do not count a broken tea set on the floor in the pool of something that smelled like tea. She led me to the back of the room, near the window, where there, besides even more bookcases, was a nice couch, half-covered with books.

-Out of all the people, I did not expect to hear him… - she said, not even bothering to turn towards me. - Why is he here? Where is Melle?

-Yeah, quite a bit happened.

Not even looking at me she fell on the couch and closed her eyes.

-Talk.

I explained quickly how both of us met and got captured.

-Apparently I only got released thanks to me being “one of your people”.

-I guess you are now… - she looked like she was deep in thought. If she was not talking I’d think she was asleep.

-More like you’re one of my people - I grinned, pointing at my mark.

-Don’t even think about it.

-I know, I know, just joking - I said, raising my hand in a defensive gesture. - Calm down.

-Instead of joking around, better tell me if you have what you were sent for.

-Yeah, we managed to prepare it beforehand.

-Will it work?

-It is potent, that’s for sure. It’s definitely stronger than that smoke.

She squinted in pain when I mentioned it.

-Don’t remind me of that… that bitch is still drunk, lying in a guest room.

-A “more important guest” indeed.

-Whatever. I’m more concerned about Melle’s issue. Are you sure that it was them?

-As sure as it gets.

-That’s… not possible… they…

-I don’t know what you are thinking, but you should be on guard. Odar wanted to speak with you personally and alone, right? It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he wants to take you, too…

-And why would he do that?

-And why would he kidnap Melle? And the kid? Hell if I know, but he definitely is shady, you can’t deny that.

-That’s not the point! - she said angrily. - I know him personally! Shady or not, he’s almost like a family to me!

I shrugged.

-If you trust him, then it’s fine.

-I do. Also, as long as Jacob is my second in command, he’d never even try…

-Sure, whatever. Just be careful.

She smirked.

-Since when do you care?

That question suddenly knocked me off track.

-That’s actually a good point… why do I care?

She didn’t even bother opening her eyes, but I heard her scoff.

-Anyway… thank you for being worried, but you should go and tend to Jacob. If Odar was asking about him, it would be for the best if he was present during our conversation, or at least available.

-Yeah… I told him that I don’t know where he is, so it’s up to you if you want to tell him the truth or not.

-Okay. Any other helpful tips? - she asked, grinning.

-Nope.

-Then go get to it! - she said angrily. - Whenever you want it or not, I am your boss right now.

-I wonder about that… - I said, grinning in reply and raised my hand, showing her my mark.

Not like she was looking at me anyway.

She growled at me

-Sure, sure, I am off, boss! - I said before she thought of a way to reply.

She mumbled something, but I did not hear nor I cared.

To my surprise, on my way to Jacob’s room I met our resident herbalist. She looked… well, maybe not completely sober, but definitely better than For.

-What are you doing here?

She clearly did not notice me before I spoke up, because she froze on the spot when she heard my voice.

-Taking a walk.

She seemed a bit apprehensive.

-Yeah, no shit… - I rolled my eyes. - Why? Aren’t you supposed to stay in your room?

-No one said so. And who are you, eeem… , sir?

-Errr…? We met before?

-Really?

-Yeah? Jacob, unconscious, weird mana smoke…

-Ah! Sorry! I didn’t recognize you…

-What? Did that smoke get to your head?

-No, no I remember your name, it’s just…

-Just what?

-Never mind! He is still in his room, I just woke up recently so I didn’t have time to check up on him…

-That’s why I am here. You’re coming with me?

-With all due respect - she backed away from me a step - but I should probably still stay in my room for a while… You might be right, I’m still not completely sober…

-Hm. Well, do what you want, I’m not your boss.

She was about to leave, but I stopped her, remembering something.

-By the way, did you by any chance meet a man going downstairs?

-No…

-Good. Then stay inside.

She looked confused and for some reason, scared, but nodded nonetheless, and went back to the room.

Hoping that Jacob won’t be in a similar shape after waking up, I quickly moved to his room.

To no one’s surprise, I found it exactly as I left it - including the unmoving Jacob on the bed. Now even colder than before, but still breathing. Barely. If not for that, you could easily make a mistake and think that it’s a corpse.

-Let’s get to it then…

I put the bag on the table next to the bed and started going through the contents.

Inside, there was a lot more than you’d think it’d fit. I already once looked inside it, but since the situation was urgent, I didn't really have time to properly inspect it. Now, I could easily tell that inside was about five times more spacious than you’d normally expect, and was filled to the brim with other, smaller sacks. Although those were just plain and unenchanted, they were also completely full - mostly with different dried herbs, but some had just empty bottles. I found a couple full with what I thought was the water we took from the spring I showed her. I also found a pair of ornate daggers, well kept and pretty sharp. I couldn’t help but wonder how they did not pierce the bag, but hey, magic is magic, who the hell knows how exactly that bag was enchanted.

Speaking of enchantments, the daggers themselves felt magical as well - I did not even have to try and focus - when I picked them up, I could feel my magic flow towards them and the fancy adornments started glowing with a white light. I was not going to take any chances, so I immediately dropped them back inside the bag and the reaction ceased, leaving them dark.

It took me a good chunk of time before I finally managed to find the correct bottle and finally put it on the table, thinking how I should approach this predicament… Last time I was in an even remotely similar situation, the victim was, well “mostly conscious” let’s say.

In an attempt to not choke him to death, I propped him up and tried to make him sit, although it proved a bit difficult. Jacob was not the thinnest person in the world, and trying that with one hand was not the easiest thing in the world.

I managed to somehow succeed, but I had to use one of the nearby stools as a support, so he wouldn't just flop over back onto the bed. Uncorking the bottle, I slowly started pouring the potion into his throat, trying to be very careful and not spill any on me or him. Mostly on me, since I did not want to start glowing again and he would most likely be fine - he was supposedly in a mana-starved state, so it could even help.

It seemed to be working. After a few first drops, his pulse suddenly increased and I started feeling him getting warmer. Next was his breathing - up till now, shallow and barely noticeable, after another few drops, he suddenly started breathing through his mouth and even coughed, surprising me and almost making me spill the potion on both of us.

I quickly pulled the bottle back and waited for him to settle back. He was not conscious yet, although it looked like he was on the verge of waking up: his eyes moving rapidly under his eyelids and he even started moving his arms a little bit.

I was contemplating if I should give him a bit more, but before I managed to make up my mind, he coughed once more and his eyes opened.

He looked dazed and confused, and I am not sure if he was even able to see me properly, because the first thing he did was to rub his eyes. He was not even looking at me, just instead was gazing into the space in front of him.

-How are you feeling? - I asked, trying to figure out how conscious he is.

He wanted to say something, but had a hard time speaking, instead he went into a small coughing fit.

-Unfortunately I don’t have any regular water, so take it easy.

He nodded, coughed a few times more and seemingly calmed down.

-Good. Can you talk?

-Yes… - his voice was a bit raspy, but still strong.

-Nice. Do you remember what happened?

-Somewhat… - he started rubbing his eyes again. - I was in my room… felt tired after using a bit too much magic… went to sleep… Why am I here…?

-Well, you said it yourself. You got tired. Too tired. According to our resident doctor… herbalist… healer… I don’t know, whatever. You fell into a coma because of mana starvation.

-Coma? Hell… how long was I out… and who are you…

For the first time since he awoke, he looked directly at me.

And screamed.

It took me off guard. I instantly jumped up and quickly scanned the room for whatever might have startled him, but found nothing out of the ordinary. For a second I turned my back to him, and when I looked at him again he was out of the bed, the stool I used as a support on the floor beside him.

-What’s going on?! Why are you…

I did not manage to finish my sentence. I got interrupted by a large ball of fire flying towards my face.

I didn’t defend myself. I didn't even manage to scream or react in any shape of form, before the flames hit me in the side of the head.

While I definitely felt the heat and the flames scorching my hair, surprisingly, there was no pain. Well, that is until the impact knocked me down onto the floor.

-MONSTER! - he yelled on top of his lungs.

There wasn’t even a hint of the earlier weakness in his voice any more. A bit dazed, I wanted to yell at him back, but as soon as I opened my mouth, another fireball was already flying towards me.

Reflexively I covered my face with my arm, not sure what that would help. Soon enough I felt the heat of the flames and smelled the unpleasant scent of burned hair and cloth. The impact this time sent me sliding on the floor towards the wall and I hit the wall with my back with a loud thud, knocking the air out of my lungs.

Jacob was standing as far away from me as he could, and I think was casting another spell, although at the time I did not notice, since I could barely breathe or see, thanks to the flames and the sheer force of the impact. I only saw the effects a second later: a ring of fire encircled me. To be honest, it looked a bit similar to the spell I used on Melle’s plants some time ago, although this time the flames were definitely not protecting me.

Behind my back, in the corridor, I heard frantic steps, both from upstairs and downstairs, but I did not care any more. For a second, I almost lost my consciousness, but the searing pain of the flames finally reached me, to the point where the only thing I could see was bright light.

Soon I realized that it wasn’t exactly the pain that blinded me.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely felt the spells that got flung at me, but the bright light I was seeing was from the pain. I only realized that after the ring of fire surrounding me started slowly dissipating, but there was light coming off from my arm. Not the one I’ve covered myself with though, the other one. Yes, the one I thought I lost.

Well, it was still not completely there, but instead, the crystal that was part of me was now a lot bigger, to the point where it looked like half of my arm was back. It was unmistakably the same crystal that I had the shrapnel stuck in me.

That’s not all though. While the light coming from it was definitely blinding, it was not the only source of it - my side of the body, where the shards of the crystal were, was also emitting light. A bit dimmer, true, but that might be just thanks to the clothes. As they were burning away, I realized what was causing the flames to disappear.

The crystal was pulling the fire to itself, and, for the lack of the better term, absorbing it. Like some weird vacuum, whenever they got even remotely close, it sucked them in, and, to my absolute bewilderment, it was spreading around my body.

First I thought that it was just clothes burning away and revealing that I had more of it than I remembered, but I quickly realized that it was actually growing right in front of my eyes.

I didn’t have the time to even try and process that information, before yet another fireball hit me, but this time he nailed me right into the crystal remains of my arm.

The flames reached me alright, but right afterwards they were absorbed, making me glow even more and made the crystal part of me grow even faster.

-What the hell is going on?! - I heard someone yell from the door and then scream right afterwards.

It was For. She apparently came down to check who was causing all that commotion.

-Finally someone sane… - I muttered under my breath, thinking she would be able to calm down and stop this barrage of fire, but…

-Geksu qomlu!!

She did not cast that spell, she squeaked it.

A series of small fireballs now joined the barrage of spells assaulting me, and promptly got absorbed even faster than the large ones from Jacob.

-Never mind… What the fuck?! - I yelled, trying to stand.

-Stay back, monster! What the hell did you do to him?! - she yelled at me, flinging more fire.

-What monster, that’s me you idiots!

-I know your kind! Is he dead?! Did you kidnap him?! Stop pretending and tell me!

-What in the fuck, I am telling you, it’s me! What got into you?!

-You are not him. Mor is not made of crystal! - Jacob pitched in, almost squeaking as well.

I guess not showing them the arm bit me in the ass right now, go figure. But why now? It’s not like it was on the display, right?

-I am not… Well, technically I am, partially at least, but I’ve been like this all the time!

-Stop lying! What’s the point! Just…

-What’s going on?

In all this commotion none of us noticed Odar’s arrival. Standing right behind For and carefully looking into the room, he noticed both me on the ground and the other two flooding me with spells.

-Odar! - Jacob suddenly stopped, surprised to see him. - What are you doing here?

-I can ask you both the same question. Why are you assaulting your own underling? I guess it’s not my business, but…

-That’s not my underling! I have never seen this… this thing in my life!

-”Thing”? Fuck you! Ow!

Yet another small fireball hit me. I slowly stopped noticing them, since they almost immediately were absorbed by the crystal part of me, especially when Jacob stopped. The ones from For weren’t packing much force to begin with, but were still annoying.

-You stay down! - Jacob yelled and was about to toss yet another one, but this time Odar stopped him.

-Can you explain what’s going on? - he sounded genuinely concerned. - Look, I can’t just stand back and look, isn’t this… as you said, “thing”, yours?

I was about to protest that I am not a thing, nor I am someone’s property, but I bit my tongue.

-What the hell do you mean?!

-Well… I brought him here… he said he was on a mission for you… and For even had him in her own chambers just a while ago…

-WHAT?

This time, both of them yelled in surprise.

-What?

-For, is that true?

-It wasn’t him! I am sure that was the real Mor, not this creature!

-What the fuck are you talking about? - I barked annoyed, finally managing to stand up and extinguish the rest of the flames that were smoldering on my, now almost completely burned, coat.

-Shut up, monster! We both faced enough of you during our days, with Odar here you have no chance!

I was straight up speechless. First I save his life, and now in return I have to deal with this bullshit?

-Odar, with me! Let’s both hit him. Double deal, you remember?

-I do… - he responded with disdain. - I still think you’re making a mistake though. And I am a bit worried…

-Worried? No point! It dies here!

-Not the point. Doesn’t matter anyway, you go first.

I have no idea what they were planning, but judging by the look on their faces, it was nothing good. Even For stopped her barrage to look and was visibly scared. Eh, I guess that’s what I get for making deals with…

Wait a second. Deals. Didn’t I have a thing just for that?

Just before they attacked, I managed to focus and remember. And it worked alright.

Both on my hand and on For’s neck, the familiar flames manifested, and right in front of me, the contract appeared. It looked a bit different than the last time though - when I first summoned it, it was not glowing that hard, nor was it that big. Same with the flames on us. Instead of a small spark and a thin ring around her neck, both her whole head and my whole palm were lit ablaze with that strange, cold fire.

I don’t think I need to explain For’s reaction. Her shriek made all three of us jump, and before any one of them was able to react, I put up a barrier around me, using the same spell as I used on Melle’s plants.

Although, like with the contract, the effect was magnified - the flames were a lot larger, and brighter, almost rivaling the glow of the crystal itself. It was most likely thanks to the massive amount of mana that I absorbed from all those spells flung at me. Happy that the spell at least did not backfire, I spoke up.

-I swear, you people keep involving me with your problems, and then, when I finally turn up and actually help, what do I get? A spell to the face?

-He’s attacking! Quick, get him!

Yeah, there was no way I was going to talk them into submission.

-I think you might be onto something. He does not seem like the same person I talked to. Understood.

Even him? I guess the sudden combustion of For’s head didn’t help. But what the hell did he mean by “not the same person”? Sure, I grew a bit of a crystal out, true, but that’s besides the point. You can’t just treat people like items because they look different!

-Double deal. Go! Joqotu mady go hilty! - yelled Jacob.

-Joqotu mady go jnifuy! - followed Odar, still looking not very sure about all this.

The spell they used was similar, yet they used different elements. In front of Jacob, a large orange-red cube materialized. It looked somewhat like a lit furnace, albeit with transparent walls. As the spell formed, the flames started to heat up, and started turning blinding white.

On the other side, there was Odar - with an identical one, but instead of raging inferno, a large cube of ice started to form. To be honest, it’s hard to classify that as actual ice, because it looked liquid.

Wait a second, didn’t he use nature magic last time? He was able to use multiple elements, like me?

But before I even managed to comprehend the nature of both of those spells, they went with another.

-Myqgoqvu!

They were chanting together now.

Both cubes slammed into each other. At first, it looked counter-productive, since I expected them just to cancel each other out, or for the fire to win, since Jacob was pretty much doping right now, but the effect was different. Both of them started turning and melding together, forming a strange shape.

It definitely looked interesting, like some sort of a star with sharp edges of different colors, and a core of vibrant purple, which looked like it was boiling. I could sense that the spell finally finished forming, and even then it was draining both of them. Apparently trying to synchronize two elements inside one spell was a pretty taxing task for them. Nevertheless, impressive.

I did not have time to be amazed at their creation though, because as soon as the combination was done, they sent it barreling right towards me.

That’s when I noticed a pretty obvious flaw in that spell. It was slow as hell. The fireballs and their equivalents are so popular and widely used thanks to their ease of use and speed of travel. Such a small spell does not require much to get going towards the direction of your choosing and even small amounts of force can give them a lot of speed. In comparison, this thing was massive. While the size does not exactly represent the heaviness of whatever the spell consisted of, it definitely represents the degree of focus needed to control it. It’s like comparing driving a bike to driving a bus - one of those is definitely easier to get going and change the direction you want it to move towards.

There bus has one upside though - it is pretty fucking big. Like this abomination. And however slow would it move, if there is no place to escape, you can't dodge it.

Exactly like in this case. I was cornered by a massive spell, and taking it head on would definitely be unpleasant. Even considering the mana absorbing properties of the crystal that was embedded in me, I doubt it would be able to absorb the entirety of this spell without me taking a significant damage from it. My smoldering coat and hair were the definitive proof of that - and those were just from some average fireballs.

I was in a bit of a pickle. Obviously, the barrier I created was not even close to enough to block that. I had to think of something, and quickly.

First, I dropped the initial fire barrier and focused. While I might have already taken quite a bit of damage thanks to the barrage I was under recently, there was an upside to that - I felt powerful.

Whenever they wanted it or not, they fed me so much of their mana for me to glow like an oversized light bulb, meaning that I had most likely more than enough power to create a barrier that could stop their combined spell. There was just one singular problem - what element should I use?

The first choice would be earth - or rather the crystal that the castle was made from. During my stay here I noticed that it was quite sturdy and resistant to magic - even when I was jailed and burned my way out of the cell, I did not manage to even scratch the crystal, just had to rely on destroying the weak points - hinges and such.

The problem with that though was that I would reveal to them that I was able to use more than one element.

Not so long ago I would’ve been a lot more trusting and just went with it, especially after seeing Odar use ice, but that’d be before my “so-called” boss and her right hand started tossing spells at me. The small piece of crystal wedged into my arm caused all this mess, who knows what the hell would they do if they learned that as well. I was not going to give that information to the enemy for free.

I was left with fire then. While it would be my second choice, that or ice magic, either of those was risky. I was pretty sure that a fire barrier would be able to stop both of those spells separately, but that was not what I was dealing with now.

Multi-elemental spells are often pretty hard to write, and if one is used properly, you can exponentially increase their power even using a small amount of mana. Even in my “boosted” state, it was a gamble. A gamble that I decided to take. In the worst scenario, even if the barrier failed, the spell would’ve been weakened to the point where the crystal could absorb it without much harm to me.

I decided to risk it.

What I had in mind was creating basically a wall of warding fire in front of me, cutting me away from both the spell and the two that were focusing on it. For was still there, cutting off my way of escape, but she was still “on fire” and panicking. And besides that, she already proved to be the less threatening one in this encounter.

-Hilty, rtywomwu puq pyt.

But that’s not what happened when I spoke the spell.

To be honest, at first I thought it fizzled completely and in panic I just tried jumping away from the rapidly approaching fusion of two spells, but I was stopped mid-step.

Not by a spell or anything like that - I straight up crashed face first into For, who literally jumped at me like some wild animal, knocking me down. It was quite surprising - I did not expect that much strength from her, nor I expected that she’d actually try to stop me.

The second thing I noticed though, and that was more than concerning, was fire. And a lot of it.

I never dismissed the contract, so at first I didn’t really notice it, but on second glance, the fire that was surrounding her was not the same as before. Her whole body was engulfed by a large flame, crimson red, while her head was still surrounded by a white one, from the contract. It did not look like she was in pain and was not panicking any more. I couldn’t see her face clearly, but she looked like she was in some kind of trance.

What was unsettling though, she was not trying to attack me. Instead, to the sheer panic of two men in front of us, she stood between me and a spell in an attempt to protect me from it, taking the hit instead.

The three of us reacted instantly. Jacob and Odar yelled in unison, breaking their focus on the spell, and I jumped up from the ground, grabbing her and trying to tackle her to the floor.

But it was already too late. The spell, even though the source of mana was cut from it, was still going strong and collided with us. As a last ditch attempt, I tried blocking it with my exposed crystal body, hoping that it would absorb at least part of it.

The moment it touched me, I felt a searing pain go through my whole body, starting from the hand, pulsing towards the side of my head and down my side and thigh. That, and the light coming from the point of contact, spreading through my crystal, blinded me pretty much completely and I lost my consciousness.