-Our island - she started - was created a long time ago, by one of the previous kings.

-You mean Axelrod’s ancestor?

-Not exactly - she shook her head. - See, the kings of this country are not just born into the royal family, they are chosen.

-You have elections here? - I was genuinely surprised. - Well, well. That’s very progressive for you.

-Election? - she laughed. - Ha, that would be too normal. No, the kings are chosen by their predecessors - she explained. - Whenever there is a time for a change of the head of the country, the current ruler “gets a vision from the Lost” and then immediately leaves to find the person in question. Usually it takes no more than a month for the person to be found and safely brought to the palace, just to take the place of the king in a few years or so.

-That’s an interesting way of doing it. And shady as fuck.

-Right? - she agreed with me. - I know, Lost and all, I do believe in most of it, but to get some kind of vision? That smells like bullshit and politics.

-That’s probably the case.

-Anyway, back on topic - she corrected herself, realizing that we were starting to get sidetracked. - The island was created from one large magical crystal. The one who made it was said to be so powerful, he pulled the island from the depths of the sea and sculpted it onto the shape you see today.

-”The one who made it”? You don’t have a name?

-Sadly, the name has never been passed. Even the knowledge of him, or her, being the king’s ancestor is not public knowledge.

-Hm. What about the crystal then?

-As I was saying, it was made out of one crystal. While indeed large, it was not originally so big. And in the process of creating, they used an immense amount of magic to enlarge it. The process was not perfect however. The original crystal was prismatic, while, as you can see, now it is red. It essentially forced everyone that would inevitably start living and working here to use only red mana, limiting the guild to one element.

-I thought that it was common here - I asked, curious. - I mean the use of singular elements…

-Of course it is - she agreed. - Now it’s not the problem. But in earlier days there were a lot more multi-element users, making the fact that the castle was forcing use of fire magic a bit awkward and constraining in the recruitment process.

-Ah. Should’ve figured that out. What about the founder though? Does that mean that the first leader of Red Mages was also a king?

-No - she shook her head. - Since creating the island was a feat requiring immense power, they had to sacrifice their own life to make it.

-Die to make an island? - I raised my brow. - Are you sure?

-Do you doubt me? I think you’d know if I was lying - she shrugged.

-No, I didn't mean it like that. I just think that wasting your life on such mundane creation is a bit of a waste…

-Mundane? - she was flabbergasted. - Raising an island and creating a castle out of nothing is a waste and mundane task!?

-Somewhat, if you believe the fact that they paid the ultimate price - I replied, not even flinching. - I am aware that you are not exactly a master of magic, but I think even you can imagine better uses for one’s life.

-No, actually, I don’t - she stated, I am pretty sure just to annoy me. - Please, enlighten me.

-I dunno, maybe instead of dumping your life into some dead rock, you’d better for example make another life? I feel like something like this is easily done with other means… for example by finding ALREADY EXISTING ISLAND?

-I didn’t take you for a family man - she replied, ignoring the later part of my tangent.

-I am not. But that’s not what’s important.

I paused for a second, thinking.

-I think your story is at least somewhat correct. Is that what you learned from your books?

-I… er…, actually, yes.

-Hm. And you had to dump so much effort just to learn that little? - I said, a bit disappointed.

I think she was too.

-Yeah, although it was not easy. The things that I told you have been written in a cipher, in books that I have never been able to read. That is until I tried using the meditation technique…

-Wait, that thing helped you decode stuff? - I asked, impressed.

-Yes. That took me by surprise as well. If I knew earlier, I would’ve done that a long time ago.

-Why didn’t you anyway? This thing seems a bit powerful… if not absolutely weird.

-Maybe because of that? - she said irritated. - This technique is said to use your own life as a fuel to find out whatever you want…

-Whatever you want? - I was definitely not convinced. - Something like this does not exist.

-So what the hell do you think that is, huh? Or maybe you think that using your own life is again not a good price for it, huh?

She was clearly irritated.

I sighed, annoyed by her gullibleness.

-Whoever wrote this spell had to be either a drama queen or very much of a joker.

-The hell do you even…

I didn’t let her finish.

-For. Mana. What do you think mana is?

-What does that have to do…

-Mana is your life. So. If it is a spell draining mana, it indeed “uses your life as fuel”. As every other spell on this planet.

She looked at me with a blank expression on her face.

It was clear that it finally dawned on her.

-Hello? It is a spell, right?

-Ah… - she shook her head like a wet dog. - Yes. Yes it is.

-Can you write the incantation? Or at least tell me. Just be careful to not cast it accidentally.

Without a word, she tore one of the pages off a book in front of her and started writing.

-That’s a bit of a waste… - muttered Jacob, still a bit stunned by this chain of events.

-Here. I assume you’re going to tell me what it means?

-You guessed right.

-Just don’t tell me that it’s something absolutely ridiculous… - she muttered and gave me the slip of paper.

-No promises.

I took a good long look at the incantation. As expected, it was not some fancy forgotten magical ritual, or a technique. It was just a plain and simple spell…

-For… Can I see the book that you’ve learned that from?

-The spell…?

-No, no. The information about the ancestor and all that.

-Oh… I think it should be…

She started browsing through the pile of the books next to her. It took her a minute before she found the correct one. Apparently it was a bit hard to remember the exact cover and the place she put it away to.

-Ah. That one! - she finally announced.

She picked some tome from the ground and opened it.

Her face immediately turned pale.

-What’s wrong? - asked Jacob.

-That’s… that can’t be right! It can’t be this one!

She immediately started looking again, frantically.

The longer that went, the more she seemed panicked.

-Did someone come here?!

-You think someone stole the book…?

-It has to be it! It’s not here! I thought…

-It’s not possible. You’re looking at only people who were ever in this room. At least since you’ve been… unavailable. You sure that it’s not just somewhere in the pile…?

As they were browsing through again, I stepped behind the desk and carefully picked up the tome she said was supposed to be the correct one and opened it.

Ha. No wonder she got startled. It was an empty book.

Why did she even have something like that in the first place?

But it also meant that what I learned from the spell had to be correct. Just to be sure, I inspected the pages a bit closer, using my magic sight. Indeed, it had some lingering traces of mana - her mana. It didn’t look like it was hiding anything though, it just seemed like she had it with her for a good while. Turning a few pages confirmed it further, as I clearly noticed some stains that definitely were similar in color to her makeup.

-Why do you even have empty books - I muttered to myself.

-We have a lot of those - replied Jacob, still helping her look. - You think all of our books are already written? We have… or rather had a bunch of people who had to write their discoveries and so on…

-This is a bit of an expensive way to write your notes…

-We are not exactly a poor guild - he shrugged.

-Hm. Well, whatever you say. Anyway, you can stop looking now. For, I think that is indeed the book you were looking for.

-You found it? - she seemed relieved, but after noticing what tome I had in my hand she got disappointed. - I checked this one already! It’s empty! It…

-And that is one reason why I think you used this one. Well, to be honest, it doesn’t matter, really…

-What do you mean?!

-That spell… technique, whatever you want to call it… It’s actually quite different from what you thought.

She was not pale now. She was completely white. Even more than the pages of the empty book I was holding.

-Don’t tell me that spell was some curse!? - now even Jacob was scared.

-Curse? No! What the hell, why? It’s a very useful spell, don’t get me wrong, but… it’s not exactly what you think it is…

-So what did I do then?! I was in a trance… - she stated, trying to think. - I clearly remember getting some information I needed…

-”Let me remember that of which I have forgotten” - I said. - That is a rough translation of that spell of yours.

-What?!

-Yeah. A lot less amazing than you thought, eh? I say, that is a pretty useful spell, but nothing much more than that. Definitely not some kind of miracle-spell you said.

-But… but… if that’s the case, why was she in the trance for so long? - asked Jacob. - She was unresponsive for so long!

-Ah. Well, that is curious - I nodded, changing my focus from the book to For herself.

My first thought was that she was just so weak that using something like this had just drained her too hard and put her in some kind of trance…

Nah, it was definitely not the case. Even now, weakened after being drained by me, she had quite a bit of mana left, definitely nothing to scoff at, and definitely not that little so that spell would knock her out…

Even if we’d thought that it would be so draining, there was still the case of her quick recovery and the repeated process… How was she regaining so much mana in such a…

I gazed at the walls of the room and instantly understood.

-Aah…

-For, calm down - I said after she was still shaky and trying to look for the book. - There’s nothing wrong with you, nor with anything else.

-So what did you figure out? - asked Jacob, aware that I had figured something out.

-Let me start from the beginning. First of all, the spell. While you definitely used a spell that definitely was not in the slightest connected to what you wanted to accomplish, you actually got a lot of info. ”Let me remember…”- that thing let you glimpse into your old memories, or more specifically memories that someone wanted to conceal from you.

-Conceal?! - she was still spooked, although now for a different reason. - Someone used magic on me to mess with my head?!

-Seems like it - I nodded.

-How the hell did you get that out of that one sentence?! What are you?! - she was clearly in disbelief.

-But wait, she broke through that kind of magic so easily? - Jacob was not convinced. - What kind of shitty magic is that?

-That’s the thing: I am not sure. But I don’t think it was weak. Sure, in normal circumstances the spell like this would not be enough to do anything. You maybe would’ve remembered what you had for dinner last month or something mundane like that. But this place is anything but normal.

-What do you mean…?

-This place is one great magic crystal. You said it yourself. And to boot, it used to be an Origin Crystal, at least partially. That, plus the fact that you are on top of the leyline…

-It enhanced my spell… that’s why it managed to break through… whatever that was…

-Precisely. And even then, it drained a lot of mana from you. You’d be in a coma, just like Jacob that one time, if not for the strange thing: you used the crystal that the place is made of as a conduit for your magic.

I noticed that before: the place was infused, but her chambers were a lot less. Like it was drained for some reason. For example, like someone was using the mana in the environment to, I don’t know, to cast the spell, or regain their own mana. If I didn’t know better, I'd say that she had a similar ability to mine - it definitely looked that way when I first saw her “meditating”.

-So, okay - she finally calmed down. - Okay. Sure. My spell was… not that useful… or at least not on this topic. Okay. Let’s leave that for now. I don’t even want to think about that. Let’s change the subject. You said that you can help me secure the place more. What did you have in mind?

She was definitely in denial, but I didn’t care either way.

-I didn’t say I’d help you secure it, I said I can explain a bit more.

-As long as it is more on topic than my findings…

-Ha. Well, sure. I can tell you my suspicions. That’s kind of important. As I already mentioned, I can use magic here only because I have been using Origin Crystal that is now merged with my body to cast spells. Even though it's so big, this place is still not powerful enough to force me to use the red crystal instead. I assume that it’s the same thing with Axelrod.

Both of them exchanged worried looks.

-Are you saying that the king is a crystal remnant?

-That is very likely - I nodded. - I saw him in the cave, his form definitely didn’t look normal.

-Yeah, but you said he transformed into some kind of plant-based creature.

-I don’t want to say “transformed”. I suspect it was more of a merge than anything.

-Merge? You think he managed to absorb that weird magical creation? - For was not thrilled with this image.

-Hmm… I don’t know… - Jacob was not convinced.

-Well, that’s just my theory… If you have anything else…

He clearly was thinking of something.

-Are you sure that he was the one controlling Odar?

-I mean, of course, who else would it be? He was pretty transparent about it…

-Well then… I think I have to indulge you into one small secret…

-Oh?

-Have you heard about the werefera?

I frowned, thinking of where did I exactly hear that term before, but before I managed to remember, Iloa did it for me.

-It was when you were with Abes and Eicam. One of them told you a story about some transforming creature roaming the woods.

-Ah, right. Thanks.

-I think so… - replied For for me. - Wasn’t it some kind of magical animal that threatened some place near the capital?

-Something like that, yeah, I heard that too.

-More or less - nodded Jacob. - But that’s just half of the story.

-And I assume you know more? How? - I asked, curious. - Interested in legends?

-While I am, yes, that’s not why I know this - he replied. - This one I’ve heard from my brother out of all people.

-Oh great - I rolled my eyes. - Are you…

-Yes, I am sure that is not bullshit and while he might be an idiot sometimes, I know when he’s telling the truth - he cut me off.

-Okay, okay… calm down.

-Anyway. The werefera is definitely real. And it is an interesting creature. The stories are definitely correct, it can turn into any animal it pleases, but that is not the end of its abilities. It can take almost any form, it’s less an animal, more like a monster.

-Wait, any form? ANY form? - asked For.

-Yes. Human too.

-Oh. That’s peculiar.

-That’s an understatement - he shook his head at me. - It’s a very dangerous creature. And it’s also not dumb. Its intelligence rivals that of a human. It can learn. It can lie. It can pretend.

-That’s scary. Imagine something like this getting into a city… - For muttered. - Why didn’t you tell me before?!

-Yes… Imagine that - he ignored the question. - And then imagine no one figuring it out before it was too late.

-I feel like I know where this thing is going… - I said, gazing at him. - The only question is, who?

-And too late for what? - joined it For.

-I can answer that easily. As for “too late for what?”, too late because it already had managed to integrate itself into the society, preying on humans, replacing some…

-Brilliant…

-And as for “who?”... The answer is: Odar Erf.