He stopped, realizing that he said something he didn’t mean to.

I am not sure if that's what she intended, but it gave some results.

-I am sorry, I lost my composure for a second there - he immediately corrected himself.

-I am sure… but I am more interested in the fact that he is some “murderer” as you said. - I nodded. - Care to elaborate?

-...

-Well, he is prone to spreading misinformation - agreed For. - He apparently was telling their men that my friend here was killed by him, so maybe what you heard is also not the full truth…

-Not the full truth? - he scoffed at us. - Ha. Our organization is not so easily… Hm.

Again, he was about to say too much but corrected himself.

-I mean, I am sure of my sources. But on the other hand, I have not heard about any recent killings of his… Are you sure that YOU are not the one that is being fooled?

-Nah. I think your information is a bit old, my good sir.

-I am sure…

He definitely was not.

-But, on the contrary, I have heard about many deaths of people surrounding him though. People that were his allies. Wouldn’t that mean that it includes… you…?

His expression did not shift. His mana was also calm, so the question seemed a bit strange.

-I told you, he tried to kill me.

-So? It’s not like it would be the first time he tried removing some… dead weight from his circle.

I rolled my eyes, knowing very well that he was just trying to antagonize me. For some reason though I couldn’t feel any hostility in him.

-Eh… think of me what you will, sure, I don’t care. But I am not going to defend him if that’s what you’re worried about.

-Pf. Hardly. It’s not like you would stand a chance against any of us. Even the weakest of us would have no trouble dealing with that primitive magic of yours.

I wasn’t so sure about that, but that also made me question: what exactly were they using?

It was clearly no magic I was familiar with, and considering my experience, it was a feat by itself. I guess this world still had some surprises.

But calling me dead weight… Let’s be real, the only dead weight was Goldie, and even he had now ILMA behind the wheel, so he had more..

Wait a second.

-Er… where’s Goldie?

The two of my companions flinched, also remembering that there was indeed someone missing.

-He was with us just a minute ago… - muttered Kon, gazing around.

-Was he…? I thought… Wasn’t he walking in front of us…?

-I thought he was behind you guys…?

To be frank, I couldn’t tell when was the last time I saw him.

I was sure that he walked with us down the tunnel… Yes, that I was certain of. He even bumped into me a few times on the way. I was preoccupied with looking for Axelrod and the overall residue in this place, so I was not keeping track of people surrounding me, that’s true, but… wouldn’t I notice him disappearing?

Did he wander off…?

I quickly scanned the caves once more. Just like before, I only noticed the residue that I felt last time. Plus, the people in the cave of course, along with the portal and the cloud of mana hanging in the air after our fight.

It already dissipated quite a bit though, especially around the three of us. Probably thanks to me absorbing it with the Origin Crystal.

-I can’t sense him…

-Me neither…!

-What happened?!

-What the hell are you doing?!

The guy that was just “interrogating” us was now taken aback and definitely more than a bit suspicious.

-One of us is missing - said simply For. - But he was just there…? How’s that even possible…

-I thought you were paying attention…

-Me? Aren’t you the one with the best awareness of us all?

She was right…

-I have no idea what the hell are you talking about, but I am sure that there were only three of you from the start - said the wrapped guy.

-Any idea where he might have gotten away?

-It’s not like this place is large enough to be lost in… It’s essentially one corridor…

-And the few sealed ones - I nodded. - But you’re right, at least one of us would notice… or at least be able to find him now.

The guy was speechless. He was clearly not used to being ignored. Especially by the group that just a moment ago was fighting against.

For him it was probably the weirdest sensation: to be considered as a non-threat in that kind of situation.

So he just waved at us, annoyed and got to dealing with his own business.

Of course I didn’t let him get away from my sight, following him at a safe distance, to not completely irritate him.

But who can blame him? He didn’t know me. And I knew a lot about him.

At least about his state of mind, that is. And I did share that with my companions, also reminding them that we were able to communicate in a different way.

-He’s clearly bewildered. But harmless by now. If something changes I can take care of him.

-Are you sure? Last time your magic didn’t work… neither did ours, to be honest, but…

-Yeah, but this time I have him in melee range.

-What, you want to punch him?

-Well, it would definitely be more effective.

-I meant to drain him… But sure, your idea works too.

-Any ideas why are they here though?

-Besides what he said? No. Maybe they really have something against Axelrod.

-Sure, but to appear here along with us out of the blue….? Kind of strange…

-So did we.

-But we had those visions…

-What, you think that they did as well?

-That would explain why they are here NOW.

-Eh… annoying.

-What about Goldie, though? Where is he?

-You got me. Fucker just disappeared.

-You mean literally?

-Well, if he was able to use portal magic…

-You think he teleported away? Is one of your anchors missing?

-I didn’t check. I can’t really do that with him in our face.

-Right…

-What do we do now?

-Wait? Like we have much of a choice.

-I mean, we can also fight…

-And antagonize yet another group against us? No thanks.

-Does it even matter?

-Yeah, good question. Do you actually care about them? Or, well, rather your reputation amongst them?

-It’s not that easy… I don’t know where they came from exactly so it’s hard to tell…

-Right, they did not really name themselves…

-And not like it would’ve helped me much. They aren’t really some uniform group…

-That’s actually a fair point… I don’t know much about those people… I mean, from Wildnorth, or however you called that place?

-You heard the most I knew.

-I don’t know much either.

-I’ve heard that they aren’t really organized in any way… as in a country or something. There are just some loose groups… I think. Their lands are not exactly helpful in that regard…

-Right… aren’t they from the desert or something? I mean, even looking at their clothes…

-Yeah, Wildnorth is mostly sand plus some small villages here and there. Mostly uninhabited.

-Hm.

-Speaking of. What is he doing?

While we were having a wordless discussion, the guy was walking around the cave, looking into every single nook and cranny. I don’t know what he was looking for, some sign of Axelrod or something?

He did hang on the stone “furniture” briefly, but promptly moved along. The cell also caught his attention, and he spent a solid moment there.

-I was wondering, why were you trying to antagonize them so much?

-I was not!

-Like that’s true.

-I just was trying to get something out of him! After all, he wasted our effort to create the portal!

-Sure… But you do have a spare anchor…?

-Of course. But only to the capital. Kalkano is all but burned out.

-Shit.

-What about that other one…

-Other one…?

-The… bone.

-Oh! Right! I think I had it somewhere…

She gazed around, trying to find it, but quickly realized that it was nowhere to be seen.

-Did he take it?!

-He has not found shit so far… And he never left my sight, so I doubt that…

-Not him! Goldie!

That gave me a jolt.

-Is he even capable of that?!

-I am as surprised as you, but do you have any other explanation for him disappearing into thin air?!

-Not really… but out of all, people GOLDIE? That idiot thought he exploded a monster with his brain while yelling nonsense on top of his lungs in the middle of the forest. Same one that wanted to cast a spell at me wiggling his fingers? The same one?

Kon couldn’t help himself but to chuckle while I mentioned that.

-Something funny?

The wrapped guy was clearly not amused by the silence only interrupted by a random laughter.

-Sorry… I didn’t mean…

-What are you doing, anyway? - I asked. - It’s not like there’s anything here…

-And how would you know anything about this place, huh?!

-I mean, I was here before, and nothing has changed besides the tablet up top…

-You’ve been here?!

-I mean… accidentally, but yeah.

-HOW?!

-Er… portal mishap…?

He was clearly not buying my explanation.

While it was not exactly the complete truth, it was not far from it as well, so I just acted offended.

-Pf. It's not my problem that you don’t believe me.

-I am to believe that from all of the places in the world, a portal “mishap” managed to land you in some cave, who-knows-where?

-Well, it landed me up above…

-Above?! Where are we?!

-And you don’t know? - For asked, curious. - How did YOU land in this place then, hm…?

-Not your problem. But where are we?!

-Answer her question first, then I might consider answering yours.

He was not amused by this proposition.

For a second he was considering pros and cons, it seemed like it, but finally spoke up.

-We’ve been tracking Axelrod. You know that. We’ve been monitoring his mana for a while, and detected multiple sources of it here.

-And teleported here without an anchor?

-We had an anchor. Same one as the one he used to transfer here. Or at least that’s what we thought.

-And I assume you aren’t going to tell us what that anchor was, am I right?

-Why would I?

I couldn’t help but to let out an annoyed groan.

-Of course…

-But I’ll give you that, it is unusual. I still don’t understand why we’ve mistaken your mana with his…

-Ours?

-Okay, I told you enough. Now you tell me, where are we?

-Well, to be honest, we are not sure as well - I started.

He clearly didn’t like that, but I continued nonetheless.

-But, we are near the edge, on a rocky island. And a small one at that.

-That’s it…?

-We can go back up and you can see for yourself if you don’t believe me. But you probably want to do that nonetheless.

-Because…?

-Because there is an interesting piece of rock that you might want to inspect. That might or might not have been tempered with lately by Axelrod.

-A piece of rock? Are you fucking with me right now?

-Now, let’s not be rude.

He shot me an annoyed look.

-Hey, I told you what you wanted. So what, you’re going to ignore that or what?

Besides what he was trying to show with his behavior, I could tell that he was curious and maybe a little bit worried.

I am not sure why, though. Was he thinking that we were trying to ambush him or something…? Hell if I know.

It seemed like he wouldn’t even bother checking and leave us alone without a word, because he went towards the portal.

-What are you…

And disappeared inside.

-Did… did he just leave? - asked For with clear disbelief in her voice.

-I think so?

I also couldn’t believe my eyes.

Still, the portal did not disappear.

-Should… we follow him or something…? - asked Kon.

-We would end up in the center of their… village? Encampment? Or something. There’s no point. We need to move elsewhere anyways.

-I mean…

Before he finished the sentence the guy came back.

This time, he was armed with not only his “staff”, but also had a rather large-looking belt with different… I want to say tools, but I honestly couldn’t tell you what purpose any of them would serve because of their strange “design”.. Besides a small knife, but that’s hardly a tool.

From his belt was hanging a small hammer that instead of a handle had some glass, or maybe crystal, connected to it. A magnifying glass, but then instead of a glass it had straight up a piece of wood. Something that looked like a rubik's cube but instead it was a ball.

Plus, he had three small black leather sacks tied together.

All of those were hanging from his belt using some kind of string that was too thin to my taste, looking like it was about to snap any second.

As he walked out of the portal, this time it closed behind him.

At the same time, the “hammer-crystal” also flashed with light for a second and went dim again.

-What? - he asked, seeing our dumbfounded faces. - Come on, lead the way, I don’t have all day.

-Since when are we your guides, hm?

-Since never. I am not going to pay you, if that’s what you’re asking for.

-What in the fucking…

-Indulge him. Lead him upstairs - I said directly to For.

-And you what, you’re staying behind? - asked Kon.

-No. I want to keep an eye on him, I am just going to follow behind him.

-You noticed something suspicious?

-Well… not exactly? I mean, besides the tools he brought…

-Eh… fine - sighed For, faking annoyance. - Follow me. Come on, Kon.

Kon nodded.

The wrapped guy briefly looked at me, seeing as I was not following her, but just shrugged and started walking.

I quickly looked at the cave we were leaving behind one more time and followed suit.