Addie gnced to her left one st time, Nettal meeting her gaze. With an affirmative nod, both girls coordinated to open either door at the same time. The heavy, metal-embroidered doors swung open, disturbing the air enough to cause a slight breeze.

  Staring into the throne room, Addie was unsurprised to see all four crystals around the man now glowing red. She almost slumped in disappointment, seeing the man still sitting on the ground there just like before, but her attention quickly moved behind him.

  The fog demon stood there, still with a singed back leg and walking on a limp. Despite her feline face, Addie could see her grimace in reaction to noticing the girls.

  “Tell her the answer is fire!” Squishy unhelpfully brought up again.

  Keeping the dialogue over thoughts only, so that no one else would hear, Addie replied, “I don’t think that matters anymore.”

  She could feel his disappointment through the bond, but she ignored it because this was no time to be silly.

  Her resolve to fight and protect bleeding through their bond, Squishy straightened up quickly himself, ready to fight alongside Addie.

  “I just thought the riddle answer could be an opportunity for peace...”

  Addie and Nettal slowly stepped into the throne room, the doors naturally shutting behind them. The fog demon still hadn’t said anything; she’d frozen up, hardly moving except to track Addie with her eyes.

  “Um,” Nettal spoke up into the long room, causing her voice to reverberate across the walls, “Are you here to fight us again?”

  “No,” the fog demon replied shortly but otherwise stayed unmoving.

  “Then what are you doing here?” Addie asked skeptically, ready to draw on her magic with Ember at any moment.

  “I wait for master’s awakening,” the fog demon supplied.

  “She must mean the pointy-eared man,” Squishy pointed out.

  “I tried to heal him earlier, but nothing worked. Now that the crystals changed color, is he better?” Nettal asked.

  “Yes.” That was all the fog demon said.

  “I don’t like this,” Addie whispered, so only her companions could hear.

  Addie felt tense, like violence could break out any moment. She noticed the fog demon’s pupils were dited and staring right at Addie; her ears were ft against her head, too.

  That didn’t stop Nettal from approaching the man, Lotty following close behind. Nothing about his appearance had changed, as far as Addie could tell. He still had long, flowing white hair and pointy ears. He knelt on the floor where his wrists were still chained to the floor, and even though he wasn’t breathing, he somehow managed to keep a straight back posture. All the crystals, except the north-facing one, used to be red like blood, but now they were a rich blue color— slightly darker than Addie’s eyes.

  Addie found herself running after Nettal and Lotty, making sure to stay close so she could protect them if needed. And where Addie went, Squishy followed. She could feel his emotions over their bond, and he was just as careful to watch the fog demon as Addie was. The fog demon tensed in response to the two girls’ actions but otherwise remained alert without moving.

  Making sure to keep her eyes on the fog demon, Addie whispered to Nettal, “Is he alive now?”

  “Not sure yet.” Nettal’s eyes glowed bright green as she y her hand on the man’s head.

  The fog demon twitched from Nettal’s movement but otherwise stayed still and continued to watch.

  “Well, his heart is beating now, but I don’t see him breathing yet. His lungs look super weird, though, like big tubes instead of ft sacks.” She furrowed her brow. “I don’t see the diaphragm at all, so I’m not sure if he even can breathe.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Addie said, confused by all those words.

  “They’re just... body parts but inside you, I guess. For breathing.”

  “Okay.” Addie acknowledged.

  “Master will wake soon.” The fog demon said, still utterly unmoving.

  “I don’t see anything that needs healing, and his blood is flowing to his head again, so that’s a good sign.”

  “Tell her the answer is fire, Addie,” Squishy suggested unhelpfully again.

  Addie looked down at him incredulously. “Stop being silly!”

  His ears fell ft against his head, and now Addie felt a bit bad about scolding him.

  “I just think the fog demon may be more amenable to peace if we answer the riddle.”

  “The riddle was never supposed to be answered, she was just messing with us!” If Addie had to expin this one more time, she was going to have some very strong words for Squishy. Addie needed to keep an eye on the fog demon, but Squishy’s distracting request made it hard for her to focus.

  Though it was difficult to stay mad at Squishy— even just a little bit. She decided to apologize to him for shouting after this was over.

  “I, uh.” Nettal began, narrowing her eyes at the man. “I think he’s waking up. His eyelids are moving.”“Really? Let me see.”

  Addie gnced at the man’s face, still watching the fog demon in her periphery. True to what Nettal had mentioned, his eyes did seem to be moving behind the eyelids, and the eyelids themselves were twitching.

  In the corner of her eye, Addie saw the fog demon take one extremely slow step forward, its paw padding silently. Addie instantly moved her eyes directly back onto the fog demon, causing her to stop in her tracks.

  “Stay over there,” Addie commanded.

  The fog demon didn’t respond, but she also didn’t keep moving, so Addie didn’t say anything else for the moment.

  All at once, Addie heard the man take in a giant breath. Her eyes darted to him as his chest began moving, and his eyes opened. After that first deep breath, his breathing calmed. He looked at Addie for a few moments before gncing at Nettal.

  “Um, hello?” Nettal greeted tentatively.

  Tilting his head in curiosity, he otherwise didn’t respond. From his kneeling position, he made to stand up, first from one knee before pushing off to both feet. Just as calmly as he’d been so far, the man took in the room around him.

  “Hello?” Addie said, this time more forcefully, to get his attention.

  He still ignored her, instead turning around and looking at the fog demon. A loud sound went through the chamber like a clicking echo. Addie didn’t recognize the sound at first, but she quickly realized he was snapping his tongue.

  In response, the fog demon started bounding over, despite all of Addie’s gres.

  The man reached his hand out, and the fog demon eagerly bumped the top of her head into his outstretched palm. “Welcome back, Master.”

  Then, the man spoke in some weird flowy nguage; Addie couldn’t even tell where one word started or ended, much less if he’d spoken multiple sentences or just one. In any case, it was a lot of speaking.

  Nettal poked Addie on the shoulder, nearly causing her to shout in surprise.

  “Don’t do that!” Addie harshly whispered.

  “Sorry.” Nettal didn’t look too sorry; instead, she just moved on to what she wanted to say. “Maybe book can transte for us?” she ventured.

  “I can try,” Addie allowed.

  Focusing on the inner parts of her soul, Addie poked and prodded at Book. It responded quickly, flowing out of her soul and then materializing out from her palm.

  That definitely got the man’s attention, since he quickly swerved around and stared. A moment ter, the man had a book of his own fly out from his palm, too.

  “Wow!” Addie excimed. That definitely seemed like a good sign to her.

  Then, to her surprise, both books flew into each other, glowing so bright white that Addie couldn’t see them anymore. After a few seconds, the glowing stopped and revealed just one single merged book. This book flew back to the man, and Addie didn’t feel a connection with it anymore. It felt strange, like she was more empty somehow. Luckily, all the knowledge she’d gained from the magic trials still remained; she still remembered the fire spears, shields, and everything else.

  The man’s eyes fshed bright white as Book flew back in toward him, turning into small motes of light and flying into his body. For the first time, the man smiled.

  Looking Addie directly in the eye, he spoke, “Hello, Addie. You did an excellent job passing the trials.” His voice still sounded flowing, almost like a song, but now she could easily make out the words and sentences.

  “Um. Thank you?” Honestly, Addie was a bit confused. “Did you send us here? Do you know how we can get home?”

  He chuckled. “No, I didn’t bring you here. That’s Feera’s fault, over here.” He petted the fog demon, Feera, apparently, on the head affectionately.

  “I waited very long to find a bonded Soul Hunter,” Feera expined.

  “I’d like to congratute you, Addie. Other than me, you’re the only person in the st thousand years to have bonded to a soul hunter without a catastrophic cascade. Very impressive. That, along with your splendid trial results, tells me you have a very powerful force of will and determination.” He tilted his head. “Discipline perhaps, too,” he added.

  “You have a soul birdie, too?”

  He chuckled again, his tone reminding Addie of when Christena or Dad expined things to her slowly. “That’s right. He’s still asleep right now, but I can introduce you ter.”

  “I, uh, sorry to interrupt,” Nettal spoke up, and the man moved his focus to her for a moment.

  “Ah, yes, the cousin. I suppose I should thank you as well, for assisting Addie here.”

  Nettal furrowed her brows. “I think we really just want to go home. If Feera brought us here, can she take us back?”

  The man’s smile grew strained, and his next words came out hesitatingly. “I... suppose we can return you home, but first, let me show proper gratitude.”

  He gestured in a wide waving motion, taking in the whole room. “This is my domain; it took me years of soul magic mastery to stabilize after bonding with a soul hunter. It might look a bit run down now, but since I am awake once more, I will begin rebuilding immediately.”

  Facing Addie more directly, he continued, “Addie, I’d like to offer you an apprenticeship. The trials were designed originally to find my successor, another person bonded to a soul hunter just like you. You’ve passed splendidly, and I’ll need lots of help restoring my domain. What do you think?”

  Addie opened her mouth, but the man interrupted her before she could answer. “You don’t have to respond right away; maybe spend the night and talk to me in the morning? I can prepare a grand feast, comfortable rooms, and Feera can whip you up a bath... and a more proper set of clothes.” He looked at Addie’s dirty, worn poncho, his smile cracking for just a second.

  “I think we really just want to go home,” Nettal spoke up again.

  Waving her concerns away, the man gently reassured them. “Later, ter. Of course, I promise. But for now, let me take care of your amenities. Surely, the long journey home can wait another day? I assume you have both been deprived of properly cooked meals and warm baths. You can use the extra day to clean up and consider my proposal.”

  Well, Addie did feel really grimy, and she smelled kind of bad, too. Nettal must have agreed with her“I guess we could stay an extra day. A bath does sound nice...”

  After all the insistence Nettal had on getting home, Addie decided to check her transcendent loop to make sure they weren’t having their minds changed by magic. A quick check confirmed that she was completely unaffected from any kind of magic, her loop still entirely stable.

  Checking Squishy's emotions, he seemed agreeable to the idea, but he wanted Addie to decide. If it really would take them a long time to get home, maybe a day of rest would be nice, Addie supposed. Though, she didn’t think she’d be accepting some kind of apprenticeship from the man— she didn’t even know his name!