“Are you done?” Gaia asked.

“Hey, you’re the one who distracted us. Now, what did you have in mind when you brought us here?” Charles returned, suddenly all business. His eyes flicked to the sleeping kids and the bears beside them.

“I have learned a lot from these three in relation to their system, and even how the portals it uses are made. I believe I might even be able to create a rudimentary version of it in the future. Not a true portal, mind you, but something that mimics one and uses my earth element instead. A sort of fast-travel through the surface of the planet if you will.”

“Wait,” Charlotte caught onto the key aspect of her sentence. “You said using your earth element, not a spatial element.”

Charles groaned and hung his head. “So, you can’t actually help us with the reward from the quest either, then?”

“Nope,” She admitted readily. “However, I can share with you my insights. Also, I’ll need your help to send these six back when you learn enough.”

“That isn’t how my spell works!” He protested. “I have no connection to these kids, and certainly not to their homes or families.”

“Well, now is a good time to play with their cores and create that connection then.” Gaia skipped over to the sleeping group. “Do you actually know how those little connections of yours are made? I’m sure if you looked hard enough, you would be able to find far more than the ones you currently think are there. Besides, I can’t keep them sleeping forever. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Sure, a Grand World Spirit that cares about the people under her purview.” He laughed humorlessly. “That’s rich.”

She stamped her foot. “Don’t you dare compare me to those fallen pieces of garbage out there! I am nothing like them!” Her shouts rocked the room.

Charlotte held up her hands in a placating gesture, while James stayed back and pretended to be invisible. “Alright, calm down. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it. We didn’t know any better. Now, what’s this business about you being a Grand World Spirit? I thought you were just a World Spirit.”

“Grand World Spirits or just Grand Spirits are the evolution of World Spirits. We’re far more rare and powerful than before, but I haven’t fully adjusted to my increased powers yet. All the divinity from the dungeons and the gods has helped make me even more powerful than I would have been normally. Which has just been making things even worse. While also helping in other areas.” She went on to explain what it meant to them in detail before bringing everything back to the sleeping kids.

“All of that means, to put it in terms you might be more familiar with. I’m running an incredibly powerful computer, with the most resource-hungry, worst-built operating system you’ve ever seen. Thankfully, with what I’ve learned from the system these kids are using, I’ll be able to slim down and fix mine. However, I still can’t do that while they, or you for that matter, are here.”

“And so, it comes back to us all interfering with things.” Charles sighed.

“Sorry, but it’s just the truth of the matter. The OS, or system, wasn’t built to handle the likes of you and Charlotte. It can barely handle Alli, Scott, Kira, and that infernal tree that popped up. Then we have these kids, and their system might as well be acting like a virus constantly attacking mine. I need you all gone, or at a bare minimum, the kids along with you and Charlotte.”

“You still haven’t told us how that is supposed to happen.” Charlotte pointed out, putting a calming hand on her brother’s shoulder. “You’ve said a lot, but none of it has been helpful so far.”

“I want Charles to touch their cores and see if he’ll get anything from touching them. The element is nearly the same, but the concept behind its creation is different. It’s my hope that he will learn something that will upgrade his spell, along with forming a connection with the kids that will help get them home. After that, as I said, I’ll provide my own insights as well.”

In other words, everything depended on them, but at the same time, this would be better. Depending on someone else’s power was a onetime thing. This way meant they would own it and it would become theirs. It couldn’t be taken away, or withheld from them if they did this.

Charles shared a look with his sister. “Alright, I still don’t know if I can do anything about the connection, but I’ll at least give it a go.”

The two walked over to the sleeping Tessa’s form to start with. They went with her first to help unlock the fire element for Charlotte and to practice the process.

“Just remember how to meditate, and I’ll bring you along with me. Now, put your hand on my shoulder.” Charles activated the rune on his hand and gently pulled his sister’s consciousness along with him as he delved into the sleeping girl. Charlotte’s mastery of her own mind making the unfamiliar process a breeze for him to do.

Together, they followed along the normal twists and turns as they made their way to her core. It was a writhing, living being when they reached it.

In Charles’ experience, each core tended to be different, but this was the first time he had seen one so alive. The core was in the shape of a large salamander and was actively playing with some fire it had conjured. Her elemental affinity for spiritual flames was well earned, it seemed.

Fearlessly, Charles reached forward and touched the salamander. He used his other hand to tickle it under the chin, curious to see if it would react to the stimuli at all.

It stopped moving and flopped onto its back, presenting its belly to them.

They spent a moment tickling it before sending a trickle of their mana inside it and then retreating. That was already more than Charles had done with anyone else in the past.

Charles summarily dismissed the corrupted and error-filled message screen that greeted him when he opened his eyes. He could feel that his fire element had grown stronger than before. It would now attack the spirit of something every time he used flames now as well.

He had also learned another spell, and while he couldn’t be sure of the name without seeing the proper information, he believed it was called ‘Fire Storm’. That would have been an interesting spell to have in India, calling down literal fire from the heavens instead of lightning. It would have been fun.

“That was interesting,” Charlotte muttered, holding her head. “Oh, what a rush.” She blinked and straightened. “Was that enough to form a connection for your ‘Zero Door’ spell to use?”

Charles closed his eyes and focused on the threads he could always find beside the spell. He was happy to see that the green for Alli’s was now firmly intertwined with the silver, denoting her status as a soul companion. She had completely accepted her place as a member of their family. Beside her was a burgeoning green thread that he knew instinctively was for Myriam.

The little girl just needed time. She had been through a lot. They all had, but at her age, she still lacked the ability to properly process things. In fact, he was constantly amazed at how well she was doing and could only attribute it to Alli’s influence.

Looking around, he didn’t see any new threads and was ready to exit the space until he remembered Gaia’s words. He was hesitant to call it advice, so much as an educated guess on her part.

Regardless, he decided to give it a try and focused on the area. Looking for additional threads harder than he ever had before. Which wasn’t hard, since he had actually never looked for them before. The important ones had always just been there, and those were all he cared about.

Slowly, like using the zoom function on a photo with your phone, everything grew larger and new threads began to appear. Myri’s previously small thread that connected them grew into the size of a bridge before he finally moved past it and onto the distant people behind her.

These connections had thread colors that he had never seen before and didn’t know what they meant. However, it proved that Gaia had been onto something.

Unfortunately, there were now thousands of people that he would need to sort through to find Tessa. It looked as though everyone he had a hand in saving was there.

He pulled back and rubbed at his eyes. “Well, you were right. There are definitely more connections than I thought, too many. I’ll never be able to find them, even if this does work.”

“Do the other two, then look for a grouping of three.”

Charles gave her a long searching look. “Bob told you something before he disappeared, didn’t he? The first time I could believe it was a guess, but not this time. Is he still around? Did he even actually leave?”

Charlotte spun around, half expecting their fake uncle to jump from the shadows.

“Yes, I did actually get some advice on how to guide you from him.” The spirit huffed, her form shifting to a more adult buxom and raven haired woman. “And no, he isn’t still around, at least not to my knowledge. I have no idea where he is. After giving me those last hints of information, he vanished. I don’t know what he’s up to.”

“I don’t like it; I feel like we’re dancing around on the palm of his hand.”

Gaia shrugged. “He’s a High God, you get used to it. The two of you will be the same at some point, I’m sure.”

The two siblings gave her a dark look and moved towards Zara. There was no point in arguing about what the future might or might not hold for them. All that mattered was the now and getting their parents back.

Charlotte placed her hand on Charles’ shoulder and together they dove toward Zara’s core.