Already perceiving his arrival, I put my body in between him and Faye, shielding her from the winds that followed Tobias' appearance. Even if I hadn’t done so she wouldn’t have suffered any injuries, but her hair and clothes would have gotten ruined and I knew she wouldn’t like that.

“Hello Patriarch, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Faye spoke politely, controlling her expression.

Taking into account her accelerated heartbeat, it was easy to deduce she was concerned. After all, in our conversation, she had addressed him and the other Atriarchs as “the kind of people” I had to deal with, and she also had almost let a curse word escape from her mouth while referring to Sloan.

Although she should have been able to perceive Tobias appearance thanks to her connection to the land, his sensory range would still be a mystery to her. Nevertheless, even if he had heard, he didn’t seem to care from the way he addressed her.

“Hello little one. You grew well,” he responded cordially, but with indifferent eyes. His original curiosity towards her had apparently burned out long ago.

“May I ask why there is a need to depart so soon?” she asked Tobias, but I was the one to respond.

“He told me it may take some time to prepare myself to travel and I didn’t want to risk wasting time. That’s also why I asked him to guide me personally to the destination,” I explained.

“I understand. I hoped you would stay more,” she said, a tint of sadness in her voice.

I originally intended to depart at once after the meeting, but decided against it and instead I resolved to stop by the Gamma to give my goodbyes. I didn’t know if I would end up spending the entire year far away from the Gamma, but it would be several months at the least.

“Are you ready?” Tobias asked me.

I looked around myself. Numerous were the looks of fear and wonder pointed towards me and Tobias. Thus, I confirmed I had shown myself in Faye’s company long enough for the residents to recognize her as an important figure they ought to respect.

I raised my hand and sent a signal to the guards lead by Hector, who were currently hiding themselves in the thicket, which roughly translated to me entrusting Faye’s security to them. Once I received confirmation of reception, I started walking towards the border accompanied by Tobias.

“See you soon,” I hailed goodbye to Faye, turning around one last time.

“See you soon!” she waved me off with a cheerful tone.

We exited the border and strolled through the barren lands. We didn’t exchange many words, as there was no need to do so. Tobias turned his bodies into the direction of our destination and I followed suit.

We ran for less than an hour, taking care to avoid the other travellers. Although our destination was a heavily guarded one, being it the lifeline of this world, there were many well-travelled roads leading to it.

The place I was headed to was the Last Harbour, the only access point currently in existence to the wider world that were the Otherlands. Almost the entirety of the resources commonly spent by the inhabitants of the Perimeters were imported from there, from food to construction materials.

Although there were most likely still minerals available hidden deep beneath the earth, there was no way to reach them, as any machine suitable for the purpose would collapse under the corrosion of mana long before reaching those depths.

Moreover, trying to reach the deposits would probably end up exposing them to the atmospheric mana and waning. Aside from water, which was elementary enough to survive mana and was for this reason regularly extracted from the undergrounds of the Perimeter where it accumulated, almost everything else came from the outside. Even the Gamma, which had been dedicated to the purpose of being self-sufficient, had failed to actually reach its goal.

We slowed down, as we were about to reach our destination. The density of travellers had raised significantly as we got closer, with numerous caravans traversing the wastelands. Each wagon was towed by at least two people and guarded by four. At a single glance it was clear there were thousands of people who reached and left the location daily to transport supplies.

Comparing their numbers with those I had seen in the Alpha, Gamma and Delta Perimeters, I would be confident in asserting that at least one in five people, or around twenty percent of the world population, were involved in this trade.

Since a while several circular discs of light of different colours had become visible in the distance. They were floating a few centimetres above the ground, with no signs of movement. The area surrounding them appeared to be completely devoid of mana, as the numerous barrels and crates stacked near them didn’t show any signs of decay.

We continued to avoid the people as long as we could, until it became impossible. Strangely enough, our appearance didn’t create much disturbance, as the travellers simply moved out of the way if our paths ever met.

“Here, only the strongest among the children and youths gather. They are used to seeing one of us, as we regularly visit it,” Tobias explained.

The first part was clear even without him needing to tell me. The level of the workers and guards surrounding me was comparable to that of Lily, who was undoubtedly in the upper echelon of strength among her fellows. Although we had sparred regularly during the past year, she had seldom been able to completely exert herself, as it would have brought great damage to the restoration efforts of the Gamma.

Soon enough, we were noticed and approached by a guard who seemed to be stationed here on a permanent basis.

“Welcome, Patriarch Miller, your presence honours us. May I be made aware of the purpose of this visit?” she reverently addressed Tobias.

“This young man beside me is the new Patriarch of the Gamma Perimeter,” he responded drily.

“Oh! I understand,” she reacted surprised, before turning to me.

“Welcome, Patriarch…” she spoke tentatively

“Doe,” I intervened.

“Welcome Patriarch Doe, your presence honours us. May I be made aware of the purpose of this visit?”

“I am here to become a Merchant”

“A Merchant?” she repeated unconvinced, looking at Tobias.

“He is different from us. He will be able to traverse the doors,” he stated, before turning to me.

“Our journey together ends here, young man. I’ll make sure the peace is kept for a year. You make sure to be ready for that day. I wish you good luck,” he told me with a sincere smile.

After that, he turned around and went back from where we came, soon disappearing beyond the horizon. His words didn’t simply refer to our travel here. They meant that from this day onwards, he wouldn’t be on my side anymore, but would simply watch from the sidelines.

He had reached his objective, which was ensuring I could grow before my life was nipped in the bud. The reason why he had intervened so frequently in my favour was to balance the plate, as the opponent I would eventually come to fight had already backers. Now, things were up to me.

“If you will follow me, I will show you the way. One of the doors should currently be unoccupied. Unless you would like to receive a briefing first,” the guard politely addressed me.

“There’s no need,” I answered, signalling her to make way.

She bowed briefly to me, before guiding me between the crowd. Just before passing the last line of guards regulating the access to the plane of discs of light, she turned to me once again.

“I do not wish to be rude, but a centuries old procedure requires me to advise you against any behaviour which may pose any danger to the operations carried out here. Nobody here may be able to suppress you, but I can assure you it would be possible to buy enough time to ask for the other Atriarchs to intervene,” she spoke with seriousness.

A tinge of fear was present in her eyes, as she couldn’t know how I would react to her words.

“I understand,” I calmly answered. I had no intention of interfering with anything going on around here, as also the supplies reaching the Gamma came from here.

She exhaled and relaxed, comforted at my reaction. She continued to guide me. We walked in between the discs of swirling light which were several times bigger than a man’s body, until we stopped around one characterised by a clear orange hue. It was smaller than the others but its light was more intense.

It formed a perfect circle, even the halo surrounding tracing an exceedingly accurate circumference. The most peculiar characteristic was its apparent bidimensionality. Not even my acute sight could find any form of depth in its third dimension.

“Welcome to the Sea of Stars. Every single one of these portals is a door to a different land. Although it’s been centuries, if not millennia, we have yet to explore what lies behind each one of them”.

“As you know, the duty of a Merchant is to travel through one of the doors, strike a contract with the natives, fulfil the contract and bring back the agreed payment. The recommended rates according to the job requested are…,” she started explaining excitedly. It was apparent she took great pride in her guarding duty. Nevertheless, I was not interested in what she had to say,so I stopped her.

“There is no need to speak any further. This is the wrong place,” I stated in a sharp tone.

“... What…?” she said dumbfounded.

This “Sea of Stars” wasn’t the Last Harbour. Everything was wrong. From the location to the structures, nothing was compliant with how it should have been. This was yet another case of my word having been meddled with by something else. It was his fault.

The guard took a few steps back, intimidated by my expression suddenly turning stiff, but I didn’t react to her. I had more important matters going through my mind. The most important location of the world had been turned into a light park of portals, which seemed to have come out of a dungeon gate novel. Moreover, these flimsy looking circles of lights appeared to contain the same traces of foul energy I had felt inside of the warriors of the Epsilon.

I was tired. Tired of all these things that shouldn’t exist making their way in front of my eyes. I felt the strong need to do something to resolve the situation, but there was nothing I could think of. I didn’t even know if it would ever be possible to do something, but I would certainly try. But now, I needed to grow stronger and I knew for certain these “doors” wouldn’t help me.

Suddenly, something on the horizon caught my attention. In front of my eyes there were only the barren wastelands, but I still made my way towards them.

“Excuse me, Patriarch…” the guard vainly tried to catch my attention.

I walked between the portals, until I left that place behind. I stopped only when I reached the location I had laid my eyes on. In front of me, there was still nothing. But the horizon I could see from here appeared to be further than it should have been.

“Patriarch, please, you must listen to me! If you go further, you may get lost! That place is…”, she desperately tried to call me, but my attention was elsewhere.

I could feel it. It was a familiar feeling. It was something different. I couldn’t grasp exactly what it was, but I could feel it lingering in the air. It was not visible to the eyes, but I could feel it in my bones and resonating with my lymph.

Mixed within the mana was something different and more unpleasant. It pricked my skin and bothered my nose. It tried to flow through my body, but it was rejected as it would simply make me ill.

If I tried to pay attention to it actively, it seemed to disappear. If I freed my mind from every thought and left my senses to work freely, it became more tangible. I sharpened my eyes and tried to gaze in between the cracks of power shading the horizon. And I suddenly understood. Not with my mind, but at a deeper level of my being, one beyond my intellectual grasp.

Nevertheless, I let the lymph in my blood boil and permeate through my skin. I sunk my claws in between the cracks of the vitreous fabric of reality and tore the sky asunder. A void of distorted pathways opened in front of me and I made my steps inside.