A hamster wheel, Dallion thought. We’re stuck in a damned hamster wheel!

The concept was difficult to grasp, impossible even, until the group split in two, walking in different directions. Then, the flaws in the realm began to become obvious. While walking in their respective directions, there’d always be something that forced itself between the groups—trees, hills, anything that would keep them from seeing each other. However, it was enough for someone—in this case Dallion—to fly up into the sky to find that the distance between groups remained less than a hundred feet. Just to confirm his suspicion, Dallion did another line attack and flew in the respective direction. The reality tear shifted like a crack on the inside of a bottle would the bottle rolled.

“This is all part of the challenge,” Raven said.

“Yeah.” Dallion descended back to the ground. “And something I haven’t studied, thanks to mage Argus,” he hissed. “Are any of you familiar with magic realms and dimensions?”

Dallion expected Cheska to be the one to show off with her knowledge. To his surprise, it was Iksa who raised her hand. Even back in class, she tended to be the quiet one to the point that Dallion had never considered her remotely special. Then again, he had made the same mistake about Phoil.

“All realms are connected,” she said. “Not directly, but there are places which link to them.” She paused, turning to Raven.

“Go ahead.” The black-haired waved his hand. “He doesn’t have an echo.”

So, I was right, Dallion thought. All of them, indeed, had echoes and what was more, Raven had all but confirmed that they had the same echoes.

“Every item realm is connected to the banishment realm,” the girl continued. “So is every city. When someone creates something, a guardian moves from that realm to the realm of the guardian. Normally only the Moons can do this. However, there are exceptions.” She looked down.

Dallion felt a slight chill pass through his body. Could this be the reason that Raven insisted so much that he join the alliance? While Nil was correct that Dallion had a lot to offer, in terms of spell knowledge and abilities, he had only one thing that separated him from everyone else: the magic he was granted.

“What exceptions?” he asked.

“We’re in a magic realm. With the right spells and preparation, one can find the point that connects realms and follow them to the other side.”

At least they weren’t going to sacrifice him. Dallion felt both relief and shame. There were many things he was worried about, but being threatened by a group of children wasn’t even in his top ten. One could argue that it wasn’t the children that he was afraid of, but their parents and the person who’d given them their echoes, but even so it wasn’t a fight he should be able to lose.

“Okay, how do we find the connection spot?”

The girl didn’t answer.

“Phoil, take them out,” Raven said.

On cue, the large boy took out a stack of cards from his pocket. One could almost say that they seemed pretty standard. Dallion couldn’t see any magic symbols on them, let alone spells. What he did see was them shimmering in the light of something that wasn’t from this world.

They have items from other worlds, Dallion noted.

Really? Nil sounded surprised. That’s peculiar. There aren’t supposed to be any.

Clearly, there are.

That’s not what I meant! the old echo snapped. What I meant to say is that they aren’t supposed to have them. The items that weren’t destroyed were locked up tight.

Dallion didn’t argue, but in his mind he was wondering what if someone had restarted the previous archmage’s experiments. With so many mages from Earth, the temptation would be significant.

“We follow the death of a guardian.”

Phoil took the top card and tore it in two.

This wasn’t the first time Dallion had seen items destroyed. He himself had broken items, killed plants and animals, even people. Never before had he killed something just to see where its departing guardian went. In some way, it was almost like looking at a creature’s soul leaving its body so as to find the path to the spirit world. The most alarming thing was that in this case, it actually worked. For a split-second Dallion saw something shimmer out of the torn card. Immediately, he focused on it with his magic layer vision. The guardian was there, or at least a distorted version of it, floating through the air like a semi-transparent thread.

“That way!” Dallion almost shouted, pointing in the direction. Every instinct in him urged him to chase the guardian. Thankfully, all the wisdom and experience acquired as a hunter kept him from doing so.

The “guardian thread” continued to a point in the air, then suddenly vanished.

Very curious, Nil commented. That is a method that I hadn’t considered.

Following the spirits of items?

Don’t be so cynical, it doesn’t suit you yet. I was referring to the items having a guardian in the first place. Items from other worlds don’t have guardians within them. That is a trait reserved for this world.

You’re sure?

Quite. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but I had a rather illustrious academic career. And not like those slobs who only saw the Academy as a place to sleep, drink, and discuss how superior they were to everyone else.

Considering what Nil’s original was like when Dallion first met him at the Icepicker guild, there was room for disagreement.

“Did anyone else see it?” Raven asked.

“Not a thing.” Phoil shook his head.

“I saw something, but it was too fast,” Cheska said. The cluster of blobs that had appeared on her left shoulder told Dallion that she was lying.

“I saw it.” Dallion pointed his harpsisword to the spot at which the guardian had vanished. “It disappeared here.”

“You’re sure?” Raven pressed.

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s not like anyone can say otherwise. Clearly, I was the only one who saw it.”

“It’s not about who’s the best. There are multiple realms linked to this one. That’s the whole point. The trial starts off easy. That’s why the realm is so small: so our options are few. We can still mess up, though. If we enter the wrong realm, we might have to fight our way out.”

“And what if we enter the right realm? You think we won’t fight? It’s the Moons we’re talking about. This isn’t some awakening trial, it’s—”

None of them have passed a personal awakening trial, Nil interrupted. Considering the Moon’s restrictions, they might not even have been told about them.

Dallion was nearly certain they had, but the echo’s point was adequate. He’d already been cursed by the Moons, it was best that he didn’t add more mess-ups to the record.

“It’s what?” Cheska asked.

“A whole lot of trouble. The next part of the trial will be harder by definition. If we go to the banished realm, what chance do we stand of getting back? There’s been mages far better than anyone who’s alive today and they haven’t made it out. We’re just novices.”

Total silence followed. The rest of the children stood, as if struck by lightning. None of them had even considered the possibility, likely because the echoes had avoided such logic. That was one of the greatest shortcomings of relying on echoes—if given too much trust or power, they tended to influence the realm owner. Dallion had experienced that first hand back when he was with a limiting echo. There was a while when Nil also had nudged him in a certain direction more often that necessary, though that was before Harp and Dallion’s own echoes had filled the realm.

“No one has died during this trial,” Raven said at last. “That means we can’t get locked in the banished realm, either. What other option do we have?”

“How many portals can we open?” Dallion asked.

“Don’t look at me.” Cheska shrugged. “I didn’t get to learn that yet.”

“I thought you knew everything.” Dallion could miss the opportunity for a quick verbal jab.

“I’m just a prodigy. I’m not related to a mage.”

That explained why Iksa was recruited.

“I can make five,” the girl said. “Maybe ten.”

Before Dallion could explain what he wanted her to do, another card was torn. The sound caught his attention. A new shimmering guardian thread emerged, only this time it went in a different direction. Dallion half expected that. In his mind, he could see various realms float around the one they were currently at. Chaotic, but with a principle—that’s what he was told at the mage village a while back. The woman’s magic trait was a lot higher, of course, but that didn’t matter. It was the principle that was important. Right now, it seemed that Dallion and the rest were locked in a realm without a clue. The truth was that there were clues everywhere. They just had to figure out how to see them.

“Do five,” Dallion said. “And, Phoil, stop tearing up cards.”

“He’s right,” Raven agreed. “We’ll need them later.”

There was a moment of tenseness, after which Phoil put away the deck of cards, and Iksa cast her spells.

Both the symbols and the pattern on which they had to be put on were beyond his current abilities. That didn’t stop him from carefully observing for future reference. Once a spell was complete, a circular portal appeared, leading to another realm like a giant opening.

One portal done, Iksa continued. Two openings appeared, then three, then four, and finally five. Just as Dallion suspected, they moved about in random fashion, though never coming in contact with one another.

Dallion tried to see any difference between the realms using his layer vision, but there was nothing to see. The Moon realm guarded its secrets jealously.

“Do I tear another card?” Phoil glanced at Raven.

“No,” Dallion answered instead. “You said that the right way will lead us closer to the Moon?”

“Closer is a relative term,” the black-haired replied. “But yes, we’ll get closer.”

“And the Purple Moon is the essence of magic.” Dallion reached out and let his magic stream out of his fingers. He had to be careful not to use up too much, or he’d faint, or worse. Most of the minuscule threads went in all directions, though one cluster shot at one of the portals.

The principle of magic is pulling, Dallion thought. It held true here as well.

“It’s there,” he said.

“You can’t be sure.”

“No, but it’s better than relying on cards.”

Raven hesitated.

“You can play it safe all you want, but a choice must be made. A lot of planning has gone into preparing this, so it’ll be a while before there’s time for another go.”

Dallion knew that he couldn’t use music skills to affect an echo, not a mage one, anyway. Still, he had some experience in high stakes politics to know that the closer one was to achieving a goal, the more difficult it was to let it all go to waste. No doubt the Moonstones were the prize—something that only a novice could obtain. After all, it was never mentioned that the people who obtained the item couldn’t give it to someone else.

“You’ll lead?” the black-haired asked.

“Isn’t that why you invited me to this group?”

“No.”

The honest reply astonished Dallion.

“If the portal closes after you, you’re on your own.”

“That’s harsh.” Dallion frowned.”

Iksa’s the only one who can open it. If she can’t, we’ll leave you behind and continue with the original plan.

There was an original plan? And no one told me? “Sure.”

Taking a deep breath, Dallion split into a dozen instances. Half of them stepped through the portal in question. After Dallion was satisfied that there were no hidden traps or ambushes on the other side, he ended his combat splitting and stepped in as well.