I couldn’t understand what I was looking at, because everything was so bright I could barely see. From every single direction I was bombarded with mana signatures so strong that the corridor leading to the cave under Kalkano paled in comparison.

I tried focusing, closing my eyes even, but it did not help at all. I was constantly seeing the bright light. It sort of felt like I had a spotlight constantly pointing at my face.

Blinded, I fell down on the floor, or rather ground covered in grass. I started feeling around, trying to get my bearings a bit better, but it was no use. I only could feel more grass and some moss. I tried using my ears. Even then, I was only able to hear a soft humm of the portal along with a silent sound of the wind… and maybe some leaves…. and a lot further away, some water flowing?

It was not the sound of the roaring sea below me, which meant that we were definitely not near the Red Edge. Somewhere next to Melle’s place then? But where did the massive amounts of mana come from?

Before I was able to fully process everything, the humm of the portal intensified and I heard Jack plop out next to me.

-What the fuck is this place? - he asked as soon as the sound of the portal vanished.

-I have no clue… and I know that will sound weird - I said - but can you describe where we landed?

-Huh?

-I am a bit blinded at the moment…

-What the hell happened? - he sounded worried.

-Nothing that is concerning. For you it’s rather good.

-What?

-I told you I can see mana, right? This place is so infused that I can’t see shit.

-Oh! How strong is it?

-I don’t really have a scale to compare it to… - I replied, still trying to somehow cover my eyes, with less than useful results - but this is definitely the strongest I’ve ever felt…

-I don’t know what to tell you… - he started. - It’s some kind of ruins… Seems a bit old, overgrown with moss and other crap… Surrounded by some thick forest…

-Where are we?! - suddenly chimed in Kon - I feel this too! Those ruins… It’s so… so much…

-Emmm, are you sure you are alright? - interrupted his own explanation Jack - You are glowing…

I expected that it was going to happen, but not that soon. Then again, with this much mana…

-Hell, I wish we brought his body along with us… I bet I would be able to do anything right now…

-Yeah, about that… see, you are not the only one glowing…

-What do you…

Ah. That’s what Kon meant by “so much”.

-Are you alright? - I asked, realizing what was going on. - I did not expect that we’d find ourselves in such an environment so soon.

-Alright? - he sounded a lot more energetic than usual - Alright? I feel great! Like never! Give me more!

-Give…?

Shit.

So that is why I was not feeling overwhelmed. Somehow, accidentally, I already was releasing mana and transferring it to him. By sheer accident, during my landing, I had to somehow tear the bandages a bit, touching him with my bare crystal hand.

I mean, I was surprised that it took that long. The makeshift wraps were already through a bunch of accidents and for them to hold for that much was already a miracle.

But, since I was already pouring my mana into him…

-How much do you think you can handle?

-A lot more! Give it to me!

He was now sounding more demanding. Not good.

-Jack, lead us away from here.

-From where? Outside the ruins? Which way?

-Doesn’t matter! Just be quick! I don’t know how long we have. And be careful with touching me! I might not have full control on my mana right now.

-Or what? What’s going on?

He was still asking questions, but I felt him grab me by my clothes and carefully try to direct me somewhere.

-Just get us out.

He started leading me somewhere, judging from the sounds it was more towards the trees. I could hear more and more leaves rustling in the wind.

We were not walking in the straight line, though… it seemed like he was leading us between something…

-If the path is blocked let’s just go somewhere else, doesn't matter where…

-I am trying! This is the straightest way out.

-Out?

-Now be careful, we have stairs.

Stairs?

-Aren’t we in the middle of the forest?

-Yep. But those ruins are pretty sizable.

Where the hell were we?

But I was not able to think about that, because of Kon.

He was not talking to me any more. That was not what was alarming, although it probably should, since the last thing he said was completely not in character, he almost sounded feral.

No, what worried me was that his presence was changing and growing.

I already stopped pouring my mana into the crystal. I did that as soon as he started asking to give him even more, but I was not able to prevent the crystal’s natural ability to absorb mana.

And it was not slacking around. It was so bad that I could see it, which was quite a feat to accomplish in this blinding surroundings. It was the one singular spot that was at once brighter and darker than the environment.

Darker, because the mana that was near it was a lot thinner, while the center, the gem itself was brighter even than our surroundings.

-Kon, I don’t know if it’s you that is doing this, but I’d rather you stopped… - I said, gripping the crystal tighter in my grasp.

-Why? I feel amazing! Stronger! What’s going on?

His answer, while slightly concerning, was not what caught my attention.

I noticed that the glow of the crystal, or rather its presence was indeed getting bigger. At first I just assumed that it was the visual representation of its power that was growing, but after grippin the crystal, I realized that it was not just it.

The crystal was actually getting bigger.

It was not that much of a difference, but it was noticeable nonetheless.

-I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but you are growing…

He did not reply, so instead I turned my attention to Jack.

-Are we out of the ruin yet?

-Yes, we left the building - he replied.- But there is still a lot of rubble nearby. And a river.

-River? Lead us away from it!

If there was any body of water nearby, it was definitely infused, which would only be annoying right now.

-Away? But…

-Just do it. And be careful, everything is so infused that soon you will be drunk for sure. Can you vent out some mana safely?

-I mean…probably… But I am fine for now. I was a bit low on mana, so I guess I can still handle it…

Right. He was the one that teleported us here, so he should be mostly fine. I wasn’t feeling the effects of the mana overdose yet, and even if I would, there was nothing I could do at the moment, besides just moving as far as it was possible from here.

We walked for a good minute before I finally was able to somewhat see better. I could only see the shapes and the flames of mana all around me, but it was better than being completely blinded by the whiteness of the aura I've seen earlier.

-We are out of the immediate zone of risk, you can slow down now - I said to Jack who all that time was breathing heavily from his attempts at running, or maybe rather from mana overdose.

-Ooooffff… I am starting to feel it…

-So release some! We are fine. I think. Kon stabilized too.

I could not hear him speak a word, but I assume he did what I asked him for, because the next time he pulled me forward he was a lot more forceful.

-I am good now… - he said with his voice back to normal. - But what about you too? You are glowing so much it’s hard to look at you. And Kon…

-Right, can you see something? Did he change?

-You mean the crystal?

I felt him slow down and peer at the crystals that I still had in my hand. Or rather one singular crystal, since they merged together..

-Now when you mention it… it feels different… It’s bigger for one, but I also can feel that it’s changed somehow… is it stronger than before?

Ah, so that’s what he “wasted” his mana on. The “identification” so to speak, the mana sense. I still felt that it was weird that he had to waste so much mana to use that simple of a skill, but in this situation that was working in his favor.

A couple minutes more and I was able to see again.

Everything was still brighter than it should, but it was good enough to work with. I did turn around to check and see if the overwhelming power was still there, and sure enough, I could feel and see the white void that was stretching behind us.

From that far away though, I was able to recognize some patterns though. Snaking streams of mana, looking like bolts of lightning, were originating from one singular point, seemingly where we arrived at first.

I gazed on the rock that I was clutching in my hand - I finally was able to see it without the interference that the overwhelming mana was creating - and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

First of all, the rock was even larger than I imagined.

-Kon, you good?!

-Yeah… I think so.

He was back to his usual self. Even though I was not able to see his face, my magic vision was giving me glimpses of what he was thinking, and right now he was both confused and somewhat disturbed.

-I don’t know what got into me… As soon as we landed, I felt that delicious mana… I couldn't help myself…

-As long as you are not having any symptoms, we are fine - I calmly stated.

-Symptoms of what exactly?

-Hell if I know. You did grow a bit though…

-Huh…?

-Never mind. Next time try to contain yourself, would you?

-I am not making any promises.

-Hm.

Breaking my focus on the rock, I instead gazed around me. We were far enough that my vision was now completely back to normal.

-I think we are far enough - I stopped Jack who was still trying to drag me even further away.

-Oh? Are you fine now?

-Yeah. It was bad for a while there, but I can see now, no problem. Speaking of, where the fuck are we?

-That is a great question - he said, leaning on a tree nearby. - I honestly expected that the thing would’ve gotten us to the Edge, but that’s definitely not it.

-Yeah, no shit. But at least we don’t have to worry about being captured for trespassing.

-Hm. Maybe. Well, whatever. Do you have any idea what those ruins were? - he asked. - They seemed a bit strange…

-When I said I couldn’t see, I meant it. I was literally blinded. Wait, why were they strange?

-It’s not the first ruined building I’ve seen in my life. Those were not like any other. First of all, I am pretty sure that we are outside of Axelrod’s jurisdiction. Or at least in some place that he has no idea about.

-How so?

-See, all buildings in his kingdom are made out of wood. The ones that we landed at were definitely not.

-Wait a second. Weren’t some of your buildings also made out of stone? - I pointed out, remembering the inn.

-True. But first of all, I said “places that he has no idea about”. Besides, the buildings on that island were still mostly wooden. Only some had its base made out of stone.

-So you think it’s the same here?

-No. But you might be onto something - he added after a second of pondering. - At my place, we actually never built the stone houses ourselves, we just took them over.

-Took them over? You fought for that island or something?

-Pff, nah - he chuckled. - It’s just that the stone buildings were there already in the first place. We only used our magic to give them a little overhaul, so to speak.

-Right, green magic - I remembered the tree that was now a permanent piece of decoration in his inn.

-Exactly. At first, I was only doing that myself, so it was taking me a while. Thanks to that I am intimately familiar with how those things were made, and those - he pointed behind us - were definitely not like them.

-So what’s different? - I asked, curious. - I can’t exactly go and take a look myself…

-First of all, there definitely was not enough wood in the ruins. Sure, there were some, but it looked more like furniture or some crap, not like actual walls. Also, I am pretty sure that I also saw some metal in the rubble.

-That’s not that weird…

-Sure, but that meant that the place had to be pretty wealthy if they had access to that much metal.

-Metal is that precious, huh? - I asked, pondering what I just heard.

-Right, I keep forgetting you are not from here… Yes, metal is not cheap, and as far as I am aware there are no actual forges or any other similar establishments in the capital or even close nearby. So you have to order from afar, mostly from the north. Or, what is more likely in this case, from the Red Edge.

-Red Edge? What, they work in metallurgy?

-Yeah. I don’t know how long you spent with them, but that’s the main import of theirs. They are fire mages after all, can you imagine a better person to work with heated metal than a mage capable of manipulating fire?

-That seems handy, sure… So this place has to do something with them then?

-Maybe… - he muttered.

-You do not sound convinced.

-Yeah. There is another thing bothering me. See, the ruins… it’s not the only thing that was strange about them.

-Great, there is more. Spit it out.

-That’s the thing… I can’t really describe it… I… Hm.

He went silent for a second, clearly having trouble explaining whatever he saw.

-It looked a lot more… smooth… sleek… fuck, how do I explain this?

-Now you are confusing me - I admitted. - What’s weird about smooth buildings?

-I mean, when you build with stone, you need to use bricks, right?

-Suure…?

-But those ruins… I never saw them. It just felt like the thing was built from one solid slab. Or maybe they were just so big that I couldn’t recognize them…

He was now doubting his own words and talking to himself.

I admit, that sounded a bit strange, but nothing that would immediately scream “danger” to me, so I decided to change the subject.

-How do we proceed with Kon then? - I asked, stopping his mumbling.

-With Kon?

-Yeah, we came to try and return him to his body, remember?

-I mean… sure, but… wait - he finally realized. - We came to return him to his body, but we did not take the body…?

-Holy shit, it took you this long to ask? - I said, amused with his discovery. - Yes, yes we did. And before you accuse me of plotting something, can I at least try to explain this to you?

-I never said that I was going to accuse you of anything - he replied, but both his face and his magical presence was telling me something else.

-Uh-uh… Well, first of all, I also did not expect for us to get plopped in the middle of some random forest, this country seems to be full of those… I thought we would have arrived somewhere in Red Edge, just as you did, and we would have to try and talk ourselves out of trouble, or, in the worst case, fight our way out - I admitted. - In both of those situations, having a corpse on hand would be quite a hindrance, don’t you think?

-No shit… But still, if we don’t have him then what are we even doing then?

-As I said, let me explain. If our scouting mission went well, I just wanted you to make another portal and bring the body wherever we would need it. I assumed that would not be a problem for you, right?

-Of course… I mean it is draining, but…

-But if everything would be going well, we’d have a nice and stable source of mana right?

-True… I have some mana fruit on me in case of an emergency, but… Something wrong? - he asked, noticing my consternation.

-Not exactly… - I said, not sure what to think. - I mean… Don’t you think that having this thing right in front of our noses right after we appear does sound a bit… too good?

-Hmm…

-I’ve been wondering about that… this place seems too convenient.

-And what if it is? - he asked, not really convinced. - You don’t want to use it even if it’s right in front of us? Are you insane?

-Nah, it’s not that I don’t want to use it. I just want to check where the fuck we are first. Let’s scout a little bit before we leave.

-Fair enough.