I rode toward the community farm on my horse, since I was running out of meat, and I wanted to teach Alyssa how to cook. I jumped off once I got near the cows, since steak was her favorite, and tethered it to a fence post. I drew out my sword and entered the pen.

"Mot? Is that you?" Halfway through collecting the meat, I turned around to see Ianite. It was rare for her to be wandering around the overworld without Spark, but she didn't look upset enough for something to be terribly wrong.

"Yeah. Is there something you need?" I finished up and exited the pen, closing the gate behind me.

She looked around to make sure that nobody was within earshot. "Come to Aethoria with me, and we'll talk." Ianite glanced at the meat I was carrying. "Although you may want to take that home before you come."

When I entered Aethoria, she was waiting for me. "It's a bit of a far walk, but I needed to put it where nobody would see."

"Put what?" I was getting more and more confused. She turned and started to walk toward a house in the distance without replying. Annoyed, I followed her.

"I guess I'll tell you while we walk," she said, craning her neck to make sure Redbeard wasn't around. "The person in Ruxomar who's creating portals is very, very close to success. You're going to be able to go back home."

I was so shocked that I stopped walking. "I... I can go home? When?" I sounded like an excited child, but I didn't care.

She frowned. "Hard to say. Not for a bit, though, don't get your hopes up. I'd say anywhere from a few months to a year. Remember, whoever is constructing portals there is a mortal. They don't fully understand the concept, and it's going to be difficult for them to master it."

"I see." I was hoping it would be a bit sooner than that, but I supposed I could wait a little longer. I'd already waited eight years. "What are you showing me, then?"

We entered the small house, and Ianite led me to a room in the back. Behind a pile of chests and tables sat a single block. It looked similar to quartz, but there was something different about it. Not quite as shiny, and more metallic.

"This is the block that the portal to Ruxomar must be made of," she explained. "The portal's object, or what causes the frame to turn into a portal, is this block back here." She moved some chests to the side to reveal a block that looked very similar to the previous block, but this one had a purple circle in the middle.

"You have enough of these blocks to construct a portal?" I asked. When she nodded, I followed it with "How did you create them?"

"Spark gathered the resources, and I used my powers to combine them. Rather simple process." She put her hands on her hips, looking at the blocks with pride.

"And he didn't ask what they were for?" I was incredibly uneasy. Something like this seemed too good to be true.

"He did, and I told him I was creating new blocks. I'm going to make some blocks that are unrelated to portals to give to him, and hopefully that will rid him of any suspicions," she said.

"Oh, okay." I shifted nervously. "How will this work? Where will we set the portal up, where nobody can see us? And what will you say when the others ask you where I am?"

Ianite frowned. "Good question. Perhaps we'll set the portal up in the overworld, in the middle of the night when nobody is around. Once you leave, I'll deconstruct the portal and go back to sleep in Aethoria. I'll tell the others that I have no idea where you went."

"So... they'll think I'm dead." I couldn't bear the thought of Alyssa crying, thinking I was gone forever. But it was for the best.

"I guess so." She could tell what I was thinking. "I'll try to reassure your daughter. After all, the people in Ruxomar probably thought you were dead when you disappeared. I'll tell her that you were probably brought to another realm."

"Okay." I didn't think that that would be good enough for poor Alyssa, but I didn't have any other suggestions. "Is that all you have to show me?"

"For now, yes," she said, admiring the blocks one more time before covering them in chests again. "I'll contact you right away if anything happens."

"Alright. Thank you." I exited the house and began the long walk to the ship, feelings of joy and nervousness flooding me.

"Dad?" Alyssa asked as she ate the steak she had prepared. It had turned out very well, and I was extremely proud of her. She would grow up to be a wonderful cook someday.

"Yeah?"

She sighed and half-heartedly bit into a piece of steak. "Do you think we'll ever go back to Ruxomar?"

I tried my best to look innocent. "Anything could happen, I guess. Why do you ask?"

She was silent for a moment. "You know why. I want to go back there more than anything else in the world, and the others are convinced that we'll never go back."

I didn't know what to tell her. "Well, we believed that we would spend our entire lives in Ruxomar. That changed. I wouldn't completely cast the idea aside, but I wouldn't get too hopeful, either."

She set her fork down. "I hate not knowing what's going to happen. I don't know how much longer I can wait."

"I know, I know." There wasn't much I could say to comfort her without spilling the secret. "We can't see into the future, Alyssa. We just have to accept whatever happens."

The gloom on her face turned to a look of fury. "Whoever decided our fates is really messed up, to think that this was all a good idea."

I thought about everything that had happened to the people around us. "I couldn't agree more."