During our discussion we arrived at the dungeon. Still as deserted as usual, that is besides the one guy in the cell.

-Get him into the interrogation room and we’ll go from there.

-Right.

She placed Kon on the bench of the room, along with my… missing parts, and we went to the cell where Goldie was kept.

For grabbed him by the arm, and without resistance made him stand up and led him to the room with Kon. He was still as blank as usual, or she was, rather.

-First things first. ILMA. Are you awake?

As soon as I spoke her name, she turned to me but did not respond.

-I assume that as a resounding “maybe”. Good enough.

I could feel For tensing up as I asked the next question.

-ILMA, do you know what happened to him?

Her eyes turned to the unmoving body on the stone bench.

For a good moment she didn’t say a word, making me worry, but after a full minute she spoke.

-Negative.

-That’s not good… - muttered For.

-It’s not that bad. At least she is still conscious and responding - I said, trying to think of the brighter side.

She nodded, not amused and decided to ask her a few questions herself.

-ILMA, do you know how to wake him up?

-Target unspecified.

-Fucking… I mean Kon, ILMA.

-Affirmative.

That surprised us both. But it can’t be that easy, can it?

-Are you able to do that, ILMA?

-Affirmative.

Well damn. Apparently it was that easy.

But For was not sharing my optimism. Instead, I felt her being more suspicious than ever before.

-Say, Mor… How likely is it that it’s just a ploy of hers?

I shot her a confused look.

-Ploy? To do what exactly?

-To get me to give me her magic back.

Right. I kind of forgot that she was also unable to use magic, thanks to my meddling with the crystal and the overall security of this place.

-I find that highly unlikely. After all, you all have been added to the “employee list”, remember?

-Of course I do. But that can’t say that I am not suspicious…

-I can tell that much.

I sighed, thinking.

-I mean… - I finally replied, after a solid minute - I don’t know what to say. There is not much else I can do to make sure of that. Even if I was, I am not certain if she would’ve listened to me, since, you know…

-Right, she didn’t recognize you either… no wonder, you don’t look like yourself any more…

-I never thought about it that way… - I mumbled. - But yeah… She is still mostly logic based. So I think that she shouldn’t…

But as I was about to try and think of something to assure her that ILMA is harmless right now, I couldn’t help but have that weird feeling of… I don’t know, uncertainty? Definitely not helping in those circumstances.

-It is your call… - I just said, shrugging.

She was still uncertain, but finally sighed and made up her mind.

-ILMA, if I am to give you the ability to use magic back, will you be able to bring him back?

-Parameters unrecognized.

-For fucks… Will you be able to wake up Kon if I give you your magic back, ILMA?

-Magic conjuration is not required.

-Wait, what?

Both of us were confused. How would that work? She can wake him up just like that? What the hell was her plan?

But, while I was suddenly suspicious, For clearly got a lot less nervous.

-What do you think about that?

-Well… If I was to be still as sure as before I would say that she is harmless and there is no harm in trying…

-But you aren’t…?

I didn’t want to admit it, but I definitely was not sure about that. Honestly, I was not sure if she even had the capacity to do that without access to the old databases of our spells and overall magical language.

On the other hand, she did have capacity to grow and it was possible that she managed to think of the solution herself, just like Iloa did every time.

What concerned me though was the fact that she was able to apparently do that in her current state.

Nevertheless, I was not going to say any of that.

-I guess we can try, there shouldn't be any issue…

-You definitely don’t sound certain - she pointed out.

-Neither do you. There are no certain things any more, shit is weird if you didn’t recognize that before.

-I guess…

But despite that exchange, she already had made up her mind.

-ILMA, please go awaken Kon.

-Understood.

-Here goes nothing… - I mumbled, looking closely at what she was about to do.

She approached Kon and placed her hands on him.

She did not speak a word, was just standing there.

-What’s she doing…?

To For’s eyes it probably was looking like nothing was happening, but to my eyes it was clear the instant she touched him.

As soon as they came into contact, I felt her mana move and fluctuate. And suddenly, the same thing was happening to Kon.

I was unsure of what I was actually seeing.

Before, I was able to somewhat understand both the mana of Kon and her, or rather Goldie’s. While the fact that the strange presence or the spark that I was assuming was a piece of me that was inside Kon, and the small piece that was the consciousness of Goldie inside now ILMA were definitely not usual things, I was used to them. I could tell what was what, somewhat at least.

When the confusing aura of the strange mana got mixed in on top of that when he got knocked out appeared, I sort of accepted it and moved on, but now, I could tell that the same mana was now present inside ILMA.

It also made me realize why she didn’t need to get her magic back: she was straight up not using magic: instead, she was just manipulating mana itself. Just like I was able to do, and just like me, she was now attempting to absorb him.

I probably should’ve been trying to stop her, but I didn’t… because Kon was actually winning.

And not like he was trying to absorb her back, it was more… like she was sharing herself with him?

I know, that sounds weird but that is the best way to describe what I was seeing at that moment.

It probably was helping that they, apparently, had a very similar structure of mana. Besides the fact that both of them had that strange addition of the unusual, pure and almost natural mana in them, both of them were also essentially two people.

Would that mean that thanks to that ILMA was able to easier manipulate him… and essentially herself?

The more I thought about it, the more confusing it was getting, so I decided to stop and wait for the results.

And the results definitely came.

The mana, at first slowly flowing between the two like a quiet stream, started picking up speed and intensity, to the point where it started to look like an actual whirlpool.

Flowing from her to him and back again to him, making me dizzy.

And it was not just the fact that it started spinning, it was also mixing altogether. It was melding together into one fluid color, or at least mostly. The small parts that I thought were me, Goldie and another, now I guess Kon, were still there… Wait, there was another one. It looked almost like the overall mix that was in there, but soon started… crystalizing and being distinctly different.

Suddenly, both of their eyes started glowing and the shards shot to different bodies. It happened so fast I was not able to tell which went where, before a blinding flash of mana attacked my eyes, and I heard a yelp.

Apparently even For noticed that, because I felt her flinch and hide her own eyes from the light.

-Did you do it?! - asked For immediately after the flash disappeared and we were again able to see normally. - Is he okay!?

Unsurprisingly, the answer did not come. I was about to remind her about how she should actually address her to get a reply, but I noticed that something was different.

And not just with the state of mana of either of them. Sure, both were strange and different now, but it was not what at first glance caught my attention.

It was the fact that ILMA was no longer looking at me with the regular blank expression on her borrowed face. Instead it was more confused or bewildered I want to say, and definitely full of emotion - a stark change from before.

-Are you okay…? - For also noticed that expression. Well, the stare was kind of obvious and hard to miss…

-Miss For…?

But the voice was not strange and robotic any more. Instead, it was very familiar to me, or rather us both.

-Caleb?! - she couldn’t help but yelp. - What!? How?!

-What is going on…?

He was almost as confused as we were.

-What the fuck… what did she do…? - I mumbled, looking closer at him and his mana.

Sure enough, it was now completely different: essentially, the proportions of mana in his body switched and now he was the dominant one. But he still had the small piece of unknown inside him - probably still her.

-What happened?!

-Why am I here…? Why are you looking at me like that…?

He barely was able to put his thoughts together, definitely was not able to reply to her questions in any decent manner, but that was not what I was now focused on.

I was staring at Kon.

As soon as the spell finished with the flash of blinding light, his mana changed as well and he opened his eyes.

But this time, his eyes were blank… almost like…

-Kon? Are you alright? - I asked, looking directly into his eyes.

There was no answer, but instead I felt his mana shift a bit, like something did recognize me speaking.

-Hell. Well, he definitely is awake… Or at least he opened his eyes…

For also noticed the change and his weird demeanor.

-That does not look good.

-It’s an improvement…. I think? - I said, not sure myself.

-Is that the effect of what you called “superior intelligence”? Kind of disappointing…

-In more ways than you think - I mumbled, gazing at Caleb.

He was still not completely with us, just standing there and looking at me with absolute bewilderment written on his face.

-And stop looking at me like that? What, you saw a ghost?

He didn’t reply, just flinched and his face contorted with an irritated grin.

-Ah. So my eyes are not deceiving me. It’s you, traitor.

-Excuse me?

-You well know what I said. I see you didn’t listen to warnings though, seeing as you lack some pieces…

-What warnings? - For joined it, worried. - What did he do!?

-Yeah, what did I do? - I asked, genuinely curious about what he was talking about. - As far as I remember the only person that betrayed someone was your dear king, not me?

-How dare you…

He was about to jump up and straight up try to punch me, but failed miserably.

Thanks to whatever brought him back to us, he was now a lot weaker than he expected, and only managed to lose his balance and almost fell face first on the floor, but For managed to catch him.

-Calm down. We all are friends here. It is thanks to him that you were brought back, so try and contain yourself.

She missed a few steps but technically she was right.

-By the accident apparently - I sighed.

-That’s actually a good point… What’s happened to Kon?!

She sat Caleb back down and leaped towards Kon, who was still lying on the table, unmoving.

-Kon…?

Still nothing.

She waved his hand in front of his face, but also got nothing.

A few nudges and a couple more callouts later, it was sure that he was just as absent as he was before.

-Did she fail…? - mumbled For.

-I want to say that it is highly unlikely - I said - but in current circumstances my knowledge is apparently full of holes…

-Well, even if she did, she didn’t fail completely. After all, we now have him back…

-Yay… what a joy…

I think neither of us were really keen on him being back with us. But hey, at least Jacob is going to be happy… Maybe then he’ll be a bit more focused on everything else…

-I guess another pair of hands is always welcome… - she mumbled. - Now we are net zero on that…

-We’re still in negative. I still have none.

-Pf. Whatever.

-Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?! - interrupted us Jacob, finally having enough of being out of the loop.

-That’s a long story… - I started, but For finished for me.

-You got knocked out by… Well, we are not sure what, and somehow were controlled by someone else. We tried bringing you back but couldn’t do a thing.

-I remember… being attacked by him! - he pointed an accusatory finger to me. - That’s him that…

-No, no - she immediately interrupted. - He did it in self defense and for your own safety. The thing that took over was aggressive at first.

She was not exactly incorrect, but I could see that she was trying to hide some of the details so I just went along with it.

-Sounds about right. And now more people had gotten incapacitated in some weird attack, so we had to get some help from the same one that got you. But…

-You wanted to save me? - he puffed. - I doubt that.

-No wonder. Because it was not you who I wanted to save…

-Yeah… We tried waking him up - she gestured towards Kon - but for some reason now you are awake now instead and he is…

For the first time Goldie actually started paying attention to his surroundings.

-We are… in a cell?

-Interrogation room - she corrected him. - We had to contain you somehow…

-I do remember a little bit… - he said, looking like he had a hard time remembering things. - Who’s this anyway…?

-A new hire - simply said For. - A pretty talented mage, albeit young.

-Hm… Well, you do you. But that reminds me… We still need more manpower…

She rolled her eyes.

-Yes, yes, I still remember. But I am not sending any more, especially new hires, since none of the people you took before had come back.

-That’s what they signed up for - she shrugged. - And you know that very well.

I found it strange and almost unthinkable that the first thing that he was thinking about after being awakened from a coma, was a mission from Axelrod. The fact that he was not having any questions about his own wellbeing was concerning at best. Like, how the fuck do you just hear “ you have been controlled by some entity” and go “yeah, ok, but have you got the stuff I asked about”?

Is he insane?

-I am glad that you feel better now - I said, interrupting their discussion - but I feel you are forgetting a very important part.

-Yeah… like how the hell did you get controlled in the first place!? - asked For, realizing that it was a perfect way to change the topic.

-I don’t know. More importantly, why are you seemingly fine with this… person even being here? He is a wanted criminal!

-And what did he do exactly?

-Attacked a member of a royal guard, killed a lot of people and is now suspected of kidnapping! - he announced.

-I didn’t do shit! Well, most of it…

-Even he’s so bold to confess!

-Now, I am certain that there is an explanation for all of this… - she said calmly. - I assume you mean that he attacked Erf?

-Oh, so you have heard! Yeah, that’s the one. He maimed him and now he is still in recovery! We assumed him dead, but somehow he managed to survive! He needs to be arrested, this instance!

He attempted to stand up and grab me, but for naught. He was still weak and just collapsed back onto his bench.

-In your current situation, I feel that is impossible - said For, still calm and collected.

I honestly was in awe of her. How in the hell was she able to keep a straight face during this whole charade, and at the same time she slowly was trying to calm him down.

If I was to guess it was not the first time she had to manage him and his antics so maybe it was just her experience that gave her the edge.

Yet he was still not giving up.

-What are you doing?! Are you trying to cover for him?! That’s…

-I am not trying to cover for anybody, I am trying to just get the facts straight. And the main fact is that it doesn’t matter right now.

-This man is wanted by law and…

-By law that does not extend to this island, I need to remind you. While sure, under different circumstances I would be inclined to give him to you, as you can see he is already disarmed and defenseless…

I definitely was not.

Well, maybe literally…

-...but under our current circumstances, we are cut off from your King, and I first need to think about my own guild’s wellbeing. And he is the main reason why I am still alive and awake.

-...

-So I am going to be requiring the services of him and decided to add him as a guild member.

-You are going to harbor a criminal?!

-Not the first time, not the last one. Do I have to remind you that one of the people who you brought to me last time was indeed a criminal? A person who got missing for a good while thanks to your king?