By the time the last wooden plank locked into place on my little project, it was early in the morning. I stepped back a few meters to take in the result of my work as a whole.

Just like I had envisioned, it was a mostly rectangular building, with a protruding entrance that was part of the main living space. It was surrounded by rooms on all sides, which you could look into from the outside through their windows. Well, they were holes in the walls—windows-to-be if you’d like—missing both glass and shutters. I was still working on this aspect, as well as doors, which the entire building was missing. Moving parts proved to be more challenging to get right. However, I had reached an important milestone, and I was quite proud of my achievement.

My eyes wandered from the roof down to the ground and I nodded in satisfaction. Eventually my gaze fell on the door sill, where Riala lay and snored lightly. She had watched me for hours after I showed her the tools, and she even helped a little while we discussed her mana and did a few tests. She was still a little weak though, and eventually she grew tired and rolled into a ball on the ground like a dog. I would’ve thought she spent too much time with Hati, weren’t it for the fact that he preferred to sleep on his back like a human.

Unfortunately I hadn’t managed to finish the house before everyone went to sleep, but building almost an entire house in a day still felt very decent for my first try. Given the right tools, preparing the planks and bars was actually quite easy after I decided on the design, and then it was just a matter of putting it all into place for hours and hours on end. The inability to stop working on something fun really came in handy at times.

Now I was looking forward to the others getting up, to show them my creation, but unfortunately the sun was just beginning its ascent. It was presumably going to take a couple more hours until they woke up. I sauntered over to Riala and leaned against the wall next to her, letting myself glide down onto the grass below. Resting against the house, I finally felt tiredness wash over me. I truly loved this feeling of falling asleep after a gratifying all-nighter.

Just the mood to be in to face deadly beasts.

I laughed to myself, but I was fairly serious about it. If I was continuously stressed, my brain would simply refuse all cooperation at some point, and I’d start to despise my life. That’s not a state of mind you want to be in if your life's on the line. Having had time to reflect on my decision to give in and leave Alarna, I was more convinced than ever that it was the right one.

And now a refreshing power nap, I thought as my eyes slowly began to close.

It would’ve been a perfect ending to this night, but I had barely dozed off when I heard noises.

“Miles!” a voice called, and I pried my eyes open again.

Walking in our direction was Berla, her attention divided between the house that hadn’t been there yesterday and me and Riala lying around.

“Uh... Were you asleep?” she asked.

“I was hoping to be,” I said with a chuckle, closing my eyes again. “Care to join us?”

“Aren’t you a bit too relaxed? What if a beast gets through the mana wall after all?”

“I put up some traps nearby, it’s unlikely that anything will get here without me noticing.”

“Traps...? What if one of us triggered them?”

I didn’t see her face, but hearing the exasperation in her voice, I had a clear picture in mind. I peaked to confirm my suspicion and smiled at the fact that my guess was right.

“Don’t worry, they aren’t lethal. All they do when triggered is rattle.”

“Ah.” With this question out of the way, she focused on the house. “This is quite something. Is it done inside?”

“Yea...” I said sleepily. “Walls... Simple beds... Well, no doors yet, but... Sorry, can I show you later with the others? I didn’t realize how tired I was.” A wry smile on my face, I closed my eyes once more.

“I don’t mind, but you probably don’t want to sleep. Reurig is finally back, you know?”

He took a while, but if he was back, he must have been well. Her voice was calm, and she came over in a relaxed manner, so it couldn’t be an emergency. I thought that he might not have gotten everything, as unfortunate as that would be, or that he came back with news. But all that could surely wait an hour.

“Oh?” I said, prompting her to continue.

“Yup. And he’s not alone.”

Two words—not alone—and I was wide awake. My eyes snapped open, focusing on Berla.

“There he is,” she giggled.

“What do you mean, ‘not alone?’ Who did he bring?”

“Care to join me and find out?” she asked, mimicking me.

“Ugh...” I grunted, before slowly lifting myself up.

After dusting off my clothes and getting in a quick yawn, I glanced down at Riala enviously. I considered waking her, but thought better of it. She deserved all the rest she could get. After picking her up carefully, we walked back to our camp.

“You’re calm, so it’s not an enemy...” I said on the way.

“That’s correct,” she responded.

“But it’s clearly not good news.”

“Arguably also correct.”

“And why did he bring whoever he brought?”

“They met in the tunnels by chance. It’s kind of silly how many entrances there are... Reurig said they closed some, and put up guards for others, but there’s still several ways to get in. Or out... They would’ve searched for us either way, so he let them accompany him.”

“They...” I mumbled.

Multiple people, no enemies, but not necessarily people we want here... They know the tunnels, so there must be at least one experienced Fighter. That narrows it down a bit. Grym perhaps? But they get along well, she would be happy to see him. Hm...

Wondering whether someone else’s brain would just shut up for a minute to wait and see, I walked on until the clearing came into view. On one side, their backs towards us, stood Reurig, Hayla, Aelene, and Hati. Facing this way from the other side was a group of three Fighters. Grym, Bren, and a young, male guard I didn’t know—maybe sixteen or seventeen years old.

I thought that was it, and was confused why these three being here was “arguably bad news,” until I heard two voices behind them.

“Do you think she did it?” the male one asked.

“Wouldn’t that be amazing...” the female one responded.

They were presumably crouched around the campfire, and it appeared to fascinate them for some reason.

As we entered the clearing, the Fighter’s eyes were on us immediately. “They’re here,” Grym said.

Hearing this, the hidden two came into view. The first one was Fae, who waved at us happily. “Hi~” she greeted.

I stared at her blankly, blinking in exasperation. This girl is too curious for her own good, I thought. Smuggling her out of Alarna and letting her accompany them deep into the woods was risky. I understood well that it hadn’t been Bren’s idea though. He had almost certainly tried to stop her and failed at it. Regardless, she couldn’t be the reason for Berla’s mood either.

Of course, the moment our last visitor appeared from behind the unknown man, things fell into place. “Tomar!” Oryn exclaimed, overjoyed to see us. “I’m so glad to—”

Berla motioned for them to be quiet and he stopped for a moment. The reason became apparent to them once we walked past the others, the sleeping Riala still in my arms. I laid her down in the shadow of a nearby tree before I joined everyone else, standing at the head of our group.

There was a brief moment of silence, as I surveyed the five in front of us. At least two guards who were friendly with us, an enthusiastic fan, and the crazy professor. The last one was very clearly the odd one out, and I couldn’t think of a good reason why they might’ve brought him.

“Excuse me, Mister Remor,” the unknown guard said quietly. “If I may... Is Miss Riala okay?”

It was a harmless question, and it was nice of him to worry, but I did have to repress a chuckle at how politely he was addressing and referring to me and specifically to Riala. In Alarna, you would usually only do this in official procedures and with authority figures. Though I came around quickly, acknowledging that we technically had been the latter.

“Yes,” I said in response. “She is still resting, but she is very well. And you are?”

“Oh, my apologies,” he said, straightening himself. “My name is Taul Mora. I’m a guard in the north-western district of Alarna. Miss Riala saved my life during the dungeon incident. I just... had to make sure she was safe.”

“That’s nice of you,” I said with a nod, and then turned my attention towards Grym. “But I guess that’s not the primary reason you’re here.”

He looked back at me with his usual, stern expression. Just based on his face, it was almost impossible to tell when he was serious, relaxed, or concerned. Worryingly, however, Bren was mirroring him perfectly right now.

“Tomar,” Grym began. “I’ll get right to the point. Will you be coming back to lead Alarna?”

While I assumed that there was more to this question than him just missing me, I decided to give an equally straightforward answer and see where it would lead us.

“I believe the people have spoken. I don’t have any plans to return in the near future.”

“I see...” Grym mumbled. “We will leave then. And the priest is your problem now.”

My face contorting into a perplexed frown, I watched Grym turn around and leave. I wasn’t the only one though, as Fae and Oryn were equally confused, while Taul looked after Grym somewhat helplessly.

Bren rolled his eyes. “Dad, we talked about this,” he said with a sigh. “Will you please stop?”

“Boy, I’m not going to sit around and debate. Move it.”

“Do what you want, I’m not done here.”

“What was thar?” Grym spat, stopping in his tracks.

Bren turned to face me. “Tomar, I’m sorry we just came here like this, but the situation in town is grave. Fighters were executed because they requested to follow you into exile, people who speak positively about you are ostracized, and some are even getting locked up. And the black stones are back as well!”

I felt bad about the people who got into trouble or even lost their lives over wanting us back, but there wasn’t a lot I could do about it. At least not without taking back control, and then we’d have the opposite problem— people wanting to get rid of us. And the black stones I had already archived under “wait and see,” because it would be fine if they just got rid of them all. Bren wasn’t done yet, however.

“But the reason we hurried here is that the High Priest is risking people’s lives in an attempt to create new mana users. Someone needs to do something!”

“What?” I said in shock. This I hadn’t thought through. My head snapped in Oryn’s direction. It dawned on me what he was doing here.

Back when I awakened Lilana, I made sure to erase all traces of the script I used, and I hadn’t given it to him again. With everything he recently learned though, he presumably understood the theory, and he was able to reproduce the effect with a modified water script. Both the king and the High Priest would almost certainly kill to get people like us on their side.

“Does he have the script?” I asked in a slight panic.

“No!” Oryn assured me and started fishing around in a side-pocket of the backpack he wore. “I have it... right here.” He pulled out the notebook I had seen him write in almost every time I said... anything really.

I sighed in relief. “Okay, if he doesn’t have the script, and he doesn’t have a water source to use, living or otherwise, he won’t be able... to... Why are you looking at me like that?”

Oryn wore an awkward expression and his head appeared to retract into his torso, as if trying to hide. All Bren said was that Orthur was willing to kill people. If Oryn and his notes were out here, everything should’ve been fine.

“I’m so sorry, Tomar... I tried to warn High Priest Orthur, but he forced me to keep going! I didn’t escape until another priest received mana...” he said apologetically. He then quickly added, “But he’s like me! He won’t be a danger to anyone!”

I fell into thought. They had a few dead priests and another dud on their hands, but they were lacking the script to continue. The tragedy of lost lives aside, this wasn’t too bad. And yet I felt ill at ease.

Could one of them copy the script after seeing it just once or twice? Unless they had Riala’s photographic memory, it was unlikely. Were there any other notes? Not if Oryn was to be believed, because this notebook of his was the first of its kind after all others had been destroyed. The gods didn’t much care about the priests and would of course not help them either. But there was someone else... Someone who potentially understood Omega and might be able to help them out.

“Damn it...” I said under my breath.