“Ah, ha-ha, I see all three of you are here. You trust your friend very much, I have to say.” Aramaleo addressed Mika and Steven.

  “Why are you here?” Steven asked the natural question. Despite his state, he did his best to look intimidating.

  Silva felt that this situation could devolve into a direction unfavourable for them. She did not trust this man. Not one bit. So she grabbed a bottle left on a counter and started to circle Aramaleo, trying to position herself behind him. It made for a poor weapon, but she knew it would hurt if she smmed it on his head.

  "Well, you called because you had something you wanted, and I am the best solution to your problems. Especially because it is urgent." Aramaleo answered as he tried his best to keep his eyes on every person in the room. Which was impossible due to Silva. "Could you please not do that?"

  Silva ignored the man, who decided that Steven was a rger threat and let her move behind him.

  What Aramaleo had revealed did confuse the trio. No matter how they looked at it, there had not been anything that resembled an actual talk with whoever had replied to their call, and it was Mika who voiced their bafflement.

  “We did not tell why we called.” She pointed out.

  "Well, yes, my employer actually does not need the expnation to understand the caller's wishes. It is the act of reaching out that is important. And I happened to be the way to fulfil your wish and was sent here."

  “How?” A question escaped Silva’s mouth, revealing her surprise.

  For a moment, she thought the man would turn around to face her, but it did not happen.

  Instead, he addressed Mika. “I can assume she is clear about your abilities then?” After receiving affirmation, he continued. “Well, I happen to have an ability as well. One which allows me to travel easily.”

  “A teleportation?” Steven specuted.

  "Yes, kind of. That makes it easy for me to get where I need to. And I can also bring people with me. However, three is about the limit I can currently manage. And I can’t do it over a rge distance either. That, incidentally, is why I am here. There is a pce that will give you what you want, and I have to bring you there." Aramaleo scratched the back of his head.

  "Where?" All three friends spoke in unison.

  “Ah, I-I don’t really know. I mean… I know where it is, but not what is there. So, um, could we get moving? I am not exactly, you know, comfortable in the same room as ability users whom I don’t know what can do. There is also a raid I have to go to.”

  “A raid?” Mika’s voice became high-pitched. She was clearly imagining something outrageous.

  “No, no, not that kind of raid. I py WoV, you know!” It did not seem that they did, nor did Silva, and she could almost taste the disbelief Aramaleo radiated. “Really? You don't know?”

  There was a string of mutters Silva could not quite make out. The man continued until Steven interrupted him.

  “I am kidding. It is a game. I heard some of my friends talk about it. But we better get moving. I am kind of on borrowed ti-time here.”

  “I guess there is no need to discuss what dangers could be there.” Mika sighed.

  “We had no way to return from the moment we made the call.” Silva inserted, which made Aramaleo jump into the air.

  “Uh, right! You were there! Um, please gather together. There is no real procedure, but it would be better if you kept your eyes closed. I have been told that the process of transferring is very unpleasant and nauseating to look at. Not that I have the chance or wish to transfer someone often. And you, um, Steven? You’ll have to stand.”

  Silva finally left the man’s rear as she walked next to Mika, who was currently tugging Steven back into the bnket he had rolled out of and propped him up.

  "You know, you are a very uncomfortable kid to be around," Aramaleo spoke to Silva, which elected a sharp response from Mika, who sent a murderous gre at him.

  Silva, too, felt insulted by this cim. She had not done anything particurly wrong either. "I am not a kid. The three of us are at a simir age." She tried not to pout. A reminder of how she looked was not welcome.

  “Right, she is great as is!” Mika readily agreed.

  “Sorry? I did not want to agitate you! My bad! Ah, a bit closer and then we can start.” Aramaleo quickly backpedalled as he gave more instructions.

  “Imagine me having to deal with this almost every day.” Steven sympathetically spoke out of his cocoon. His voice was strained, prompting Silva and Mika to hurry up.

  When all three of them were close enough, Aramaleo walked up to join them, with Mika pushing him to stand next to Steven. Silva herself was hidden behind her friend's back.

  “Okay, you can close your eyes. I’ll tell you when to open them.”

  The weirdness that overcame Silva’s senses made her feel sick. There was a sudden explosion of sensations assaulting her body - just for them to stop a moment ter, with Aramaleo’s voice signalling their arrival.

  “We are here, whatever this pce is.”

  Before Silva could open her eyes, she recognised the pce. A feeling that gave her power and the presence of… Whatever it was.

  Silva recalled this feeling clearly. Even more so because she had compared her own inner energy with the sensation in the air just recently. Now, when she had returned, she realised just how right and wrong at the same time she was.

  There definitely were simirities, but the difference... There was an insurmountable gulf between her and ‘It’. As Silva opened her eyes, she found herself in the same pce from which she had fled just a month ago. No… It was not even that long.

  The pce had changed, but not by much. The wall was still barren but was freshly painted in the same blue hue the bead was radiating. There was now a small praying mat in front of the mysterious object, and the doors to the room had been changed. They appeared to be much sturdier than the ones that Silva had entered before. She had no doubts that the doors upstairs had undergone the same treatment.

  When she heard the Refugees mention overhauling their base, she had dismissed it, but there probably was more to it than she had thought.

  “Okay, I am out. Call me when you are done.” Aramaleo disturbed the deceptive peace.

  “You are not staying?” Mika was surprised.

  “No way, not gonna involve myself in… Whatever that is.” Aramaleo was avoiding looking at the blue bead with all his might, and a moment ter, he vanished.

  Another moment passed, and Mika received a message with a number in it. No doubt it was Aramaleo’s.

  “Um, guys, this pce is,” Silva started, but Mika was already moving as she let Steven colpse on the ground and removed the packaging she had put him into just a moment ago.

  “You want to say this is the basement of the Refuge,” Steven spoke as Mika was too busy with him to reply.

  “Yes!” Silva nodded. She did not know how much time they had. The praying mat indicated that there was someone regurly coming down here.

  “Then we will have to hu- Ouch, hurry, ah! Ouch, ouch. Please don’t hurry that much.” Steven begged.

  But his pleas did not reach Mika, who had a face full of concentration. After a moment, she reached her conclusion. “It’s not working.”

  “What do you mean it is not working?” Steven’s voice raised an octave. His paleness increased.

  “Shh, be quiet. What I mean is - I am getting more energy from… Whatever it is. But not enough to heal you. Not without sitting here for a long time, and I doubt that the owner of this pce will take kindly to us making a camp here.”

  “We were guaranteed that it would work.” His paleness was growing. “Maybe there is something else.” Steven spat out.

  Silva agreed. There was something else. She could tell that there was a ‘need’ in the air. She also knew the source of it. And then there was an ‘offer’. She spent a moment trying to tune out the world around her and trying to zone in on these feelings.

  “Silva?” Mika broke her out of her attempt.

  “There… There is something else, as Steven said.” Silva slowly started. “Can you feel it? The air…” She could not describe herself, so she decided to let her friends judge themselves.

  Both of them gnced around until they faced the centre of the room where the object was. Then they, too, tried to perceive what Silva had.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” In the end, Steven tried to shake his head but had to stop himself as his face contorted in discomfort. “I feel my ability works better, but...”

  “There is something like a, for the ck of a better word, a proposal?” Mika guessed.

  “Yes, ‘It’ wants a trade,” Silva concluded. “I think…”

  “You think, or you know?” Steven demanded.

  “I-I know?”

  “I mean, okay. It’s only my life at risk here. No big deal!” Steven whined.

  “You are not dying. Not when you have enough energy to compin.” Mika stopped him. She was still trying her best to fix Steven’s wound. “My healing is much smoother than back at the apartment, but a trade? Trade of what?”

  “We will have to figure it out.” Silva supposed. She was aware that the duty of doing that fell on her.

  “We already had one transaction I am not happy with, and now this,” Mika grumbled just loud enough for her to hear.

  And Silva had to agree. It felt like they were forced into making a certain choice. Not that there had not been other choices, but those choices carried sacrifices they were not ready to bear. It remained to be seen if these trades had even worse consequences.

  Stopping herself from having idle thoughts, Silva returned to trying to sense her surroundings. When she had been here for the first time, the presence that suffused the area had horrified her.

  It was strange and alien. Certainly not human, which was, in hindsight, how it should be. It was a crystal bead, after all.

  So, what would a crystal bead want from them? What or who was this ‘It’? Would they even want to know…

  The time was moving quickly, and soon, they had spent five minutes trying to guess. For the most part, Steven seemed to be content to just y on the ground without moving, but it seemed the situation was finally getting to him.

  It was already admirable that he had enough composure to not be hysterical. Silva paced around the object in the middle as she frequently gnced from it to Steven. His face was constantly changing. Until he finally spoke.

  “I-, I am sorry…” Steven closed his eyes.

  Of what exactly he was sorry, Silva could only guess. She had not seen him this vulnerable ever before.

  An urgency shot through her as Silva looked at her usually goofy but dependable friend. Steven had spoken a lot and made his usual jokes, but how bad was his actual state? Mika had not stepped away from him even for a second.

  Silva’s pace increased as she chewed on her upper lip. The time constraints seemed to tighten around her as they seemed to sink into her very being. There was nothing. She could not decipher the alien feeling and was running out of ideas. There was, however, one thing that had pgued her mind ever since she had been here first, and she reckoned that it was time to lean into it.

  With measured steps, Silva closed in on the bead. It was so small but bright. It was bright in the typical sense as well. But even more, the presence of ‘It’ was illuminating and kept the surroundings dim.

  Mika sent a questioning look, noticing Silva raising her hand. But before her friend could stop her, she grabbed down at the bead. She had to do something. This was the best option she could find.

  Silva had prepared herself for pain, so when she felt nothing, her expression could not help but change, and she had to stop Mika, who was rising up to run to her.

  “I am alright. It feels like air?” Silva pressed down with more strength. “I can’t touch it.” That was the conclusion.

  “Are you stupid? Stop that!” Mika hissed, and even Steven opened his eyes to see what the commotion was about.

  “Well, we don’t exactly have many alternatives left.” Silva reasoned. Next, she nimbly put her hand under the bead and tried to catch blue drops periodically released from the object. But had no luck with that, too. These drops simply slid through her opened palm, and once again, she felt nothing.

  “Silva…!” Mika’s tone gained a dangerous edge, warning her to not do anything stupid. Or stupider.

  Silva did feel bad for ignoring Mika, but another gnce at Steven’s still body reinforced her determination as she opened her mouth to speak.

  “We need help. We want to heal our friend. What do you want in return?” Silva decided to ask directly.

  Enkiari