It was a cold and dreary day when Cobal, Mana, Diana and their small caravan of servants drove into Saphestan. The streets reflected the snowy weather by feeling chilly and empty. Cobal shivered in the back of their carriage. Diana insisted they’d travel with their family’s carriage as the announcement they brought to the capital required some manner of decorum. Cobal was just worried they’d attract attention on the road, but nothing happened during their short travel from Ravadier to Saphestan. Cobal spent quite a bit of time with Diana, talking about all sorts of things. They had to work out what they wanted to present to the king after all. The marriage was a sound idea politically, but it would require Cobal to more or less give up his rights to the crown in favor of becoming the new lord of Ravadier. And Diana would be the lady of Ravadier and the one who actually ruled the peninsula, just like she’d done now. Mana thought that Cobal would have to take over as the ruler of Ravadier, especially since he’d be giving up his position as a royal prince, but that wasn’t how it worked. Diana as the heir to Ravadier would continue to rule the place, and when they got a child that became of age, they would take over eventually. They’d settled on a fall wedding, which meant there would be enough time for Cobal and Mana to go visit Severanti and find out what was going on with Abu, Mirgia and the others. Diana would get some time to get her affairs in order. Cobal had asked her if she didn’t mind that they’d get engaged and then he’d immediately run off on another adventure.
She’d just chuckled and said that she was happy he was no longer hiding behind his mother’s skirt. Truthfully, Cobal still hadn’t fully processed the entire idea, but he knew he was in good hands with Diana.
Thinking things over for the hundredth time, the carriage came to a stop in front of the palace gates. A few words were exchanged between the driver and the guard, and they were let into the palace. The head of staff, Malara, was there to personally bring Diana to her rooms. Guthir had stayed in the manor back in Ravadier, his health making a trip during winter a more risky endeavor. Diana leaving with Malara gave Cobal and Mana some room to unwind in Cobal’s chambers. “We’re back,” Cobal said.
“Sure wish we weren’t.”
“Come on, this is my home you know?”
Mana let out a sigh. “I know, but we didn’t leave during the most peaceful discussions and from everything we’ve heard in the past couple of weeks, things have only gotten more tense. I truly hope things can calm down a bit with this marriage proposal.”
“We’ll see.”
“And you?” Mana asked.
“What about me?”
“Will marrying into the Vadier family mean that I’ll have to find some other prince to travel with me as I search for answers?”
“Maybe you and Abu can hit it off, you’re from the same world after all.”
Mana’s face turned stern. “There was something about his attitude that rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I’m not sure we can trust him.”
Cobal shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. What I’m more curious about is what Miyara said.”
“I know, have you put much thought into it yet?”
Cobal shook his head. “I plan to speak with Nazuren and my father about it, maybe they know more.”
“I’ll go raid the palace library while we’re at it.”
“Any excuse to read some books,” Cobal joked.
“You know me.”
After that the conversation ran quiet again. Mana actually picked up a book that she’d been reading before they left for Ravadier, almost as if to prove Cobal’s point. Cobal went to lie down on his bed, and rather quickly found himself falling asleep.
Not much time had passed when Mana shook him awake. “Come on Cobal, you need to get ready for dinner with the royal family and your future wife, I can’t call myself your friend if I don’t wake you up for it.”
Cobal looked at her, she was already in her nightgown. “Shouldn’t you get ready?”
“Why? I’m not invited.”
“Sometimes I forget you’re not actually family, it feels like you are.”
“I don’t know if I should be weirded out or feel honored.”
“Whichever you prefer. Thanks for waking me up, I’ll go get ready.”
“Good, I’ll go take a nap in my room, if you need me, who am I kidding, you won’t need me, good night.”
Cobal chuckled. “Goodnight.”
Cobal sat down at the dinner table, next to Diana. They hadn’t told his parents about the proposal yet, but Cobal suspected that his mother at the very least already knew what was going on. She was a very perceptive woman after all. His entire remaining family was present for the dinner, without any of the members of the council. During the first few courses his parents mostly asked about the things that happened during their stay in Ravadier and Shark Tooth Island. Cobal told them all about the ghostly pirates, the kidnapped villagers and the eventual solution. He told them about Abu and the conversation they had with him. Both his parents and his older brother were shocked that there was another otherworlder so nearby. Cyanna seemed more curious than shocked. Finally, he told them of their intent to travel to Severanti and establish diplomatic relationships with this Abu, as that would benefit them greatly and also help them figure out more about the otherworlders and perhaps a road to where Sapher has gone. Nazuren disapproved of the idea and where Navyr was hesitant, Marin was supportive.
Finally it came to the most important thing he had to share with his family.
“Diana and Guthir informed me during my stay in Ravadier that things in the capital have been getting a bit more unstable. Unrest is growing and I’ve seen some of this unrest in the eastern part of our kingdom for myself, when we traveled through it last year. While trust in the royal family is waning,” he saw that the king wanted to interrupt him but he kept talking, “the trust in the Vadier family is still strong and the Peninsula is currently thriving. Diana and Guthir then came to me with a suggestion. What if I were to marry into the Vadier family, strengthening the bond between our kingdom and the Peninsula, which has long stood on its own while still being a part of the Blueyerd Kingdom. And after some hesitation, I have accepted their proposal.”
The room filled with silence. After what felt like an hour, but what was realistically only a few moments, Diana added. “We were hoping to hold the ceremony in the Peninsula in fall of next year. That would give Cobal and Mana the chance to reunite with their friends in Severanti and talk to Abu, while I can start planning the wedding.”
“This is all very sudden, did the two of you think it through?” Navyr asked. He scratched his chin. “I do think it is a very good idea, but are you sure? You would be giving up any rights to the throne by becoming a member of the Vadier family.”
Cobal nodded. “I don’t mind. Nazuren will be a great king one day and his children will take over when he retires and old man. What is there for me to do but marry into some allied family? I like Diana, we’ve been friends for a long time, and spending my days alongside her doesn’t sound like a bad thing at all.”
“And you, Lady Vadier?”
“If anyone can set this boy straight, it’s me.”
Marin chuckled. “As a proper lady should be.” She stood up and walked over to Diana, before hugging her. “Welcome to our family.”
“Just like that?” Navyr asked.
“What, were you going to object, darling?”
Navyr immediately shrunk in his chair. “No I wasn’t.”
Cobal looked at his siblings.
Nazuren smiled, which was a lot for someone as stoic as him. “I think it’s a very good idea, and I’m happy that you two are both on board for it.”
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” Cyanna added.
“Well, I suppose if no one is opposed,” Diana said with a smile. “I look forward to getting to know all of you a bit better while Cobal goes off on an adventure with his friends.”
“Do I sense some bitterness there, my dear fiance?” Cobal joked.
“You’re both already comfortable in your roles, from the looks of it.”
Marin stood up and hugged both Cobal and Diana. “For what it’s worth I hope you find happiness together. Your father is a stubborn man who refused to give up on me, despite his own parents’ complaints that I wasn’t nobility. Not everyone finds happiness in this way, but that is part of being nobility.”
She turned from Diana to Cobal. “Despite what I just said, you’d better do everything in your power to make her happy or I will personally come over and throw you into the ocean.”
Diana chuckled. “Well, you’re welcome to visit the Peninsula at any time, I’m sure my father would appreciate it too. He doesn’t get to leave very often with his health being what it is.”
“We shall make sure to pay him a proper visit soon as well, and to welcome him into the family,” Navyr said. He looked at his son who nodded. “That would be the least we can do.” He put his hand on Cobal’s shoulder. “Congratulations, brother.”

Entering the colorful and familiar home of Miyara the seer, the atmosphere was much lighter than Mana and Cobal had anticipated. Visiting someone who was on their deathbed wasn’t an easy task in the best of conditions, but knowing that the person in question had a reason to call them over in their final moments made things even scarier. Still, they couldn’t afford to just wait and collect themselves, and so they were pleasantly surprised when the energy they brought didn’t match with the energy in the room. Many different people were in the tavern itself, with Miyara’s two grandchildren rushing about between patrons. Miyara was laying down on a bed that was set up in the corner of the room, looking on at the festivities. When she noticed Cobal and Mana enter, she smiled and beckoned them to come over.
“I am so happy you two found the time to come visit an old woman like me.”
“Of course, you’ve been a great help to us,” Cobal said.
“You’re such a different young man than the first time we met. I’m very pleased to see your growth.”
“Well, I’ve learned some truths about the world since we last spoke.”
“Not everyone can take those truths as well as you have done, and that’s to be commended.” Her voice was soft, softer than the last time they spoke and it was hard for Cobal and Mana to hear her over the sound of people enjoying themselves throughout the room.
“We heard you asked for me,” Cobal said.
“Yes, I’ll get to that, let me just ramble for a bit first.” She turned her attention to Mana. “It’s good to see you again, I hope you’ve been successful in your endeavors so far.”
Mana smiled. “Depends on what you call successful, but I’ve met Dionil, spoken to Abu and have heard the final name you told us as well.”
“Good.” Miyara’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think I made sure to tell you this last time, but the Lady of Knowledge never told me if these people will be allies, only that you should meet them.”
Mana nodded. “That makes sense. At least Dionil has become a good friend.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She turned her attention back to Cobal. “As for why I called you here, it seems like my lady brought me one last vision before it’s time to go.”
“You’re still young.”
Miyara cackled. “I’m beyond old, child, I can feel it in my bones. I’m tired and it’s not good to keep the afterlife waiting.”
“What do you think happens when we die?”
She shrugged. “I can’t see that far ahead, but I hope it’s comfortable.”
“I’m sure it will be.” Cobal said.
“My lady visited me a few days ago, in my dreams. She told me of your family’s plight and that you should be the one to continue what your forefather started.”
“What does that mean?” Cobal asked.
“I don’t know, but the best I understood was that it is something to do with why your family came to this continent in the first place.”
Cobal looked at Mana. “I guess that adds another reason to return to the capital.”
Mana sighed. “Not looking forward to it.”
Miyara slowly looked from one to the other. “Does the past still haunt you?” She asked.
Mana shook her head. “No, we’ve fortunately moved past that. What haunts us now is the present.”
“As it does for so many. I empathize, but I am too tired to be of any help.”
“You’ve already done so much for us,” Mana pulled the amulet from her pocket that Miyara had given her when they first visited. “I can’t say I’ve made use of it, but I’ve always been happy to have a gift to remember you by me at all times.”
Miyara smiled. “That’s good. Not everything in life needs to be useful, sometimes it just needs to be. And there’s a very good chance it’s done more than you think.” Her eyes narrowed. “I appreciate you taking the time to visit me, but I must nap now.”
“Of course, rest up well, it seems like there are many people here that still want to talk to you.”
“I’ll keep the nap short.”

Cobal and Mana sat down at one of the empty tables, ordering some tea from Melissa. “What do you think she meant?” Mana asked.
Cobal shrugged. “I always thought we came here to create a new kingdom and claim the land for our own. But somehow I don’t believe Owlana would tell me to continue conquering the nearby lands.”
“It doesn’t seem like her thing, no. Although you are annexing the peninsula through marriage soon, so maybe you are becoming a tyrannical colonizer.”
“Spare me your jokes, I’m still trying to get used to the idea.” Cobal paused. “I have a question if that’s alright.”
“Sure.”
“When we first met and traveled here, you knew to visit Miyara. How did you know, I don’t think you ever told me?”
Mana fell silent for a while. “I don’t really know all that well. I heard a voice telling me to find the seer of Arana. I don’t know where the voice came from. I’ve honestly assumed the voice came from Owlana, but I have no evidence of that, it’s purely the most logical thing I can think of.”
“Strange, if it were Owlana’s voice, why would she not simply deliver the message that she delivered to Miyara to you instead?”
Mana shrugged. “Miyara said it was my first test to find her, so maybe it has something to do with that. Maybe the voice was something else. It could also be as simple as not wanting to overwhelm me immediately. Telling me to find a single person in a known location is a lot easier than telling me to find three people that I would have no idea where to start searching for.”
That made sense to Cobal. Although most people here considered Arana to be long lost, the fact that Mana was told to visit someone there made her convinced it existed and she ended up being correct, of course. “It does feel like we’re being messed with by someone who isn’t telling us their honest intentions.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Owlana told us to visit Miyara, then visit Dionil after and although we didn’t search out Abu, we are likely to cross paths. What is the end goal? Just to make you a powerful hero? Is the journey the real reward, what are we doing?”
Mana thought about this for a little while before replying. “I don’t know. I definitely feel like there are things being kept from us. But right now, I have no real reason to not do what is being suggested to us. For starters, the only thing that Owlana has really asked of us is to meet three different people. Meeting Dionil helped me come to terms with this world and it changed you for the better, so I choose to believe in this prophecy for now. It’s also a good excuse to look into your family’s past. As for Abu, I think meeting another person from my world was always going to be inevitable. Just the curiosity alone would likely pull me in that direction eventually. So I don’t know what to think, but as long as I have no good reason to stop following this path.”
“That’s fair. So we go home, then we go find Mirgia and have a chat with this Abu person to see what he’s up to?”
“Sounds like a plan. If you have the time to squeeze that all in before the wedding.”
“Could you stop reminding me every five minutes.”
“Really though, what do you think? I’m joking about it, but it’s a pretty serious decision that you had to make.”
Cobal let the sound of the room wash over him as he connected his thoughts. “Diana’s great. She’s dedicated, she’s kind and she’s not afraid to stand up for herself and her people.”
“Great body too,” Mana added.
Cobal looked shocked at the comment and Mana burst out in laughter. “Too much?”
“Didn’t expect you to be the type to make those comments.”
“Am I wrong though?”
“Didn’t you tell me it was wrong to objectify people like that?”
“Did I? Well it’s alright if it’s all in good fun.”
“So you make the rules now?”
“Correct, and don’t you forget it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Miyara’s funeral was a simple one. Cobal was curious about Arana’s funeral traditions, but they weren’t that different from their own. Bodies were often burned or buried, depending on where you came from and who you left behind. Miyara’s grave was dug into an underground bed of sand on the outskirts of Arana. Apparently they had excavated a very deep cavern when the village was first founded and then started burying their dead there. The cavern was about three quarters full and Cobal heard some people talking about how they would need to find a new solution in the future, but probably not during their lifetime. Arana was a rather small community after all. Besides the underwater part, the rest of the ceremony was mostly the same as for the people above ground which made sense as they were once the same people. Mana was asked to speak a few words and did so despite her immediate anxiety for the public speech.
“I didn’t know Miyara well. As a matter of fact, we only spoke on two occasions, but I could tell from those interactions that she was a kind soul. She welcomed me home where she had no obligation to do so. She served me tea with a smile and gave me this amulet to hold. I’ve treasured it ever since. As most of you here know, I am originally from another world. I was summoned here to be a hero, which is something I still don’t quite think I’m suited for. But Miyara was the first person here to give me direction and help me find my way. For that I will be forever grateful. May she rest in peace and may Owlana forever remember her.” She smiled and put down a piece of Coral on top of the sand, which was tradition.
After Mana’s speech, a few other people spoke, including Miyara’s grandchildren. A lot of people were present at the funeral, including Kiiran and Vandra. It seemed like many people really loved Miyara and wanted to pay their respects. Cobal felt a little bit awkward at times, but he was glad he could be in attendance.
After the funeral ended, everyone made their way back to the Seer’s Ballad – the establishment that Miyara’s grandchildren ran – to eat, drink and remember. Towards the end of the afternoon, Kiiran tapped Cobal on his shoulder. “I wish to speak with you in private a moment before you leave.”

“What’s wrong?” Cobal asked. “I can see on your face that this isn’t something pleasant.”
Kiiran smiled. “Perceptive young man.”
“I’ve spent enough hours at court to pick up a few things here and there, unfortunately.”
“Well, let me not beat around the bush then. We were made aware of a disturbing fact recently.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Although we are a secluded people, I have a couple of friends above the water that know quite a few things about the world, and one of them sent me this letter.” He handed Cobal a scroll which Cobal read through quickly.
“This is very troubling news indeed, are you sure it’s real?”
Kiiran nodded. “At the very least I believe that our source wouldn’t fabricate it, so if it is fake, it was planted somehow.”
“Can I take this with me?” Cobal asked.
Kiiran hesitated. “How will you explain getting your hands on it?”
“That’s a good question. Perhaps I’ll just tell my father about it. Besides, all it proves is that someone in our nobility is working with Sapher and the cultists, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.”
“Do you have any idea where he is?”
Cobal shook his head. “No word of him after we parted ways in Marsolin. He could be anywhere in the world right now.” He paused. “Although this letter makes me believe he might be near Blueyerd. I will inform my father, thank you for sharing this with me.”
“Of course, although we’re not particularly close, you’ve done right by my people and that is valuable to me. Know that you’ll have friends here as long as you continue to honor this friendship.”
Cobal smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The sun was long gone and the only thing still lighting their pathway along the beach was the moon and the stars. Mana once explained to him that – as least in her world – the moon didn’t actually have any light coming from it directly, but only reflected the light from the sun which would be on the other side of the world at the time. Cobal brushed it off when she first told him as he did with many of the things he told her, but staring out over the water and imagining that the sun was still providing light to them in the dark of night felt nice. He was locking arms with a beautiful woman that he’d known since he was a child. She was always a bit of a tomboy when she was younger, and Cobal definitely didn’t like her all the time, but she’d been kind and as she grew up and took over her father’s responsibility, her personality had certainly mellowed out. Her shocking white hair – something she inherited from her mother – reminded him of snow and her green eyes were hit with just enough moonlight to sparkle. Yet every time he looked away from her during their conversation, he found his mind drifting to another woman. He didn’t feel the same way about Diana as he’d felt about Salandra. He didn’t know if that would change over time, since it wasn’t that long ago that he left Salandra behind in Marsolin, but for now, he definitely still thought about her.
“Your mind is elsewhere,” Diana’s voice took him out of his train of thoughts. He smiled sheepishly.
“That obvious?”
“I’ve asked you three questions and you’ve replied to all three by nodding your head yes. The third question was if you wanted to go for a swim.”
He chuckled. “I’d rather not.”
“Surprising.”
“Is this where you thought your life was headed?”
Diana stopped walking. “Where does that question come from?”
“When we were kids, was this how you envisioned your future?” He looked around. “Not literally walking on a beach, but being the lady of Ravadier, getting ready for a political marriage to strengthen your future?”
Diana continued walking. “I guess. I didn’t think my father’s health would decline so rapidly and I would be in charge at such a young age, but I always knew he was weaker than most people, and with him refusing to take another wife after my mother passed, it was pretty clear from a young age that I would take over the peninsula instead of being married off to a distant noble.”
“And how do you feel about it all?”
She shrugged. “It’s just what life has put in front of me, we all have our paths to follow.”
It was Cobal’s turn to stop walking. “Is it all predetermined?”
“Well, it’s a figure of speech.”
“I know, but it’s something I used to think as well. I was supposed to get married to some noblewoman to make Blueyerd a more stable country, perhaps even a foreign princess if I got particularly lucky. Then I made a friend.” He sat down in the sand. He’d sobered up a bit, but not enough to keep walking through the night. “I met with people living on the bottom of the sea, I helped free a spirit from a magical prison. I fought demonic creatures in the capital of the elves and traveled to the libraries of Marsolin. I sailed on pirate ships, fought ghosts and met not one but two people who were born on a completely different world. I found friendship and love, I stopped trusting my country and regained some of that trust. And somehow after all of it I ended up right back here, the peninsula where my adventure started and the peninsula where I’ll go back to being a political pawn.” He stopped his rant as he felt Diana’s hand touch his shoulder. He looked up at her smiling face, hidden in the shadow of the night.
“Can’t you be both?”
He let himself fall into the sand. “I don’t know.” He rather quickly got back up, realizing how cold the wet sand felt below him. “Can I?”
“We all have our path to walk. But no one said there can’t be a detour or two.” She reached out a hand to him. “Let’s get you back to the inn, you look terrible.”
“I could easily get up on my own, but if you insist, I think I’ll lean on you for a while.”
“That’s what shoulders are for, to lean on from time to time.”

Things took an unexpected turn when Cobal woke up the next morning. Just when he’d made up his mind to accept Diana’s proposal for marriage, someone came knocking on the door. “Cobal, you have a guest.”
Cobal got dressed quickly and made his way back down to the main room of the inn. Sitting at the table, hood over their head was a familiar figure. He couldn’t see her face, but he knew instinctively that it was Vandra who had come to visit.
“Prince Cobal, thank you for taking the time to see me.”
“Of course, are you alright being out in the open here?”
Vandra nodded. “A few people in town know who I am and the rest know that I am some strange person that visits once every few years.” She looked around to make sure they had some privacy. “I came to bring you a message from Miyara. She wished to speak with you.”
“You mean with Mana?”
Vandra shook her head. “No, Miyara said that she would like to see the hero once more before she passes on, but the one she specifically requested was you.”
That was strange. The last time – and only time – they spoke with Miyara, she was the one who set Mana on the path towards Dionil and whatever other things the future might have in store for her. Cobal only recently remembered that there were two other people that Miyara had told them to seek out. Besides finding the Woodland Sage Dionil, they were also told to find a man named Abu and someone called Sorda’Thun the wanderer. They’d now met Abu, although he was sure that Miyara meant for them to actually travel to Severanti and meet the man in person. The wanderer on the other hand was still a complete mystery to him.
“When you say before she passes on,” Cobal halted his question.
Vandra nodded again. “It seems that time has come for the seer.”
“I see.” Cobal smiled. “Well, we’d best not keep her waiting then, I’ll go wake up Mana.”
After picking up Mana, the duo followed Vandra to the shore. They went to one of the rental houses on the beach, similar to the one that Cobal and Mana had stayed in the previous year but not the exact one they stayed in. “From this place it’s the shortest route to our main entrance,” Vandra explained before taking off her hood. She smiled at the duo. “I’m glad I managed to get hold of you so quickly.”
“We were indisposed until quite recently.”
“Yeah, how did that go?”
“Long story short, most of the ghost pirates have been sent to the afterlife, one of them ran off and is going to be chased down by the Tidesetter and her crew. The mage tower on Shark Tooth Island belongs to someone who is not currently in Blueyerd, but very much still alive.”
“That is a lot to unpack, make sure you have a chat with Kiiran before you leave Arana as well.”
Cobal nodded. “Best to get everything sorted out and capped off while we’re at it. If we are to head to Severanti it’ll probably be a while before we get to return after all, no idea what to expect there and how long things will take.” He looked at Mana who agreed with him. “It’ll be good to get our heads empty so we can focus on the tasks at hand.”
“What leads you to Severanti?” Vandra asked.
“Some of our friends are currently stuck there, although they’ve been annoyingly vague about telling us what is actually going on. We also believe the man who the tower belongs to is there. Not to mention, a year ago Miyara told us that there are three people we need to seek out. One of them was Dionil, who we met. The second one is this mage, and we have no leads on the third one yet.”
Mana looked surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Which part?”
“We have a lead on the final person as well.”
“What?”
“The person named Sorda’Thun?”
“Yes, when did you learn about them?”
“Did you not hear the conversation that we saw through the monitor?”
Cobal thought back to it. “There was a lot coming at us all at once, did I miss something important?”
“Well, the reason Abu broke off the conversation was because he had a visitor.”
“Yes?”
“The visitor was the person named Sorda’Thun.”
“Really? I didn’t realize it at all.”
“What would you do without me?” Mana chuckled.
“Deep breaths now, both of you, and prepare to be cold for a bit.”
“I am not going to enjoy this part,” Mana said, before taking a deep breath and diving in after Vandra.
One of the benefits of actually being expected to visit the city of Arana is that there are a few priests at the ready to provide you with some dry clothing and a towel. It’s a much more pleasant experience than wandering the damp tunnels in your soaking wet tunic. Cobal still felt cold despite changing to a warm robe and drying off. “It’ll be better when we get to Miyara’s place,” Vandra promised.
And so the duo entered the underwater city for the third time, but under a more heavy atmosphere than the previous two times, knowing why they had to hurry to the old seer.

Quick note from me: I realize that in earlier chapters I mixed up some character names. Eliana’s first mate is a woman named Fareh, the seer in Arana is named Miyara. I refered to Eliana’s first mate by the name Miyara many times, and I hope it wasn’t too confusing. I’ll pay more attention to this in the future.

Also, next week the Hesitant Hero will be on break again. Hopefully that will be the last break before I finish volume 4, which should be somewhere in late September, early August. Thank you for your endless patience.

“You didn’t have to come out here to greet us,” Cobal said to Guthir.
“Nonsense, you have done us a great service.”
“Maybe you should take his advice father, you know how hard it was to push this wheelchair all the way to the pier?”
“A bit of exercise is good for you, you spend all day behind a desk.”
“Whose fault is that?”
Cobal chuckled. “You sound more like a married couple than father and daughter sometimes.”
“Are you calling me old?”
“Uh,” Cobal froze. “So anyway, we brought back almost all of the missing villagers, safe and sound. I’ll give you the details when we get a little bit more privacy.”
The missing villagers had stayed on the deck of the ship until Diana, Guthir and the few villagers of Ravadier that were still awake arrived. Fareh had spent a lot of time checking all of the villagers for health problems and to see what remained of their memories. All of them commented that they saw a light in the ocean and felt compelled to walk towards it. Once they reached the light, they woke up on the deck of the Tidesetter. Everything that happened in between was completely gone from their memory.
After giving a quick summary to Diana and Guthir, they sent one of their servants into town to collect the families of the returned villagers. Two people were requested to come to the tavern instead, and meet up with them there.
Cobal walked with Diana and Guthir, while Mana and Eliana stayed behind on the Tidesetter. Cassandra had already run off to her home to check on her parents and tell Sebastian to come over to the inn.
After settling in the main room of the inn, it didn’t take long for Sebastian as well as a man that Cobal had not met before to arrive. They both gave a polite greeting to Guthir and Diana before sitting down.
“I don’t believe you’ve met my brother in law yet,” Sebastian said to Cobal.
Cobal shook the hand of the unfamiliar man. “My name is Dobas, I am Fred’s husband.”
Cobal nodded. He knew that Fred’s husband was called over as well.
“I’ll spare you the details for later and I’ll tell you the main thing we know first. The villagers were possessed by strange ghosts. When we figured out the way to undo this curse, all of the ghosts willingly let go of their stolen bodies except for one. A pirate captain named Bartew was the one who took over Fred’s body, and while we were looking the other way he badly wounded one of ours and ran off to sea. To put it simply, we don’t know where he is, and we are very sorry this happened.”
Dobas and Sebastian both listened closely. “How could you let this happen?” Dobas said. There was anger in his voice.
“Like I said, I’m very sorry this happened, and our friend, Captain Tidescreecher, will depart from here soon to try and find your husband.”
Sebastian put a hand on Dobas’ shoulder. “These are capable people that did us a favor, I’m sure they’ll find my brother.”
Dobas sighed. “I know, I just, I hope he’s doing fine.”
“I may have only known Fred for a couple of days, but he seemed like the kind of person who would be fine no matter what happened to him.”
Dobas smiled. “He’s the light of my life after all. He’s the kindest soul you’ll ever meet.”
“I’m sure Eliana will find him and bring him back.”

After Dobas and Sebastian left the inn, and the innkeeper had gone back to bed as well, it was just Diana, Cobal and Guthir left, sitting at a table. Cobal swirled the wine around in his cup before taking another sip.
“So tell me,” Diana interrupted his thoughts, “what exactly went down on Shark Tooth Island? What about the mage tower?”
Cobal sighed. “It was a lot. There is a very powerful mage who built that tower, and the pirates that tried to rob him once were turned into ghosts, wandering aimlessly in search of their redemption. Taking control of the Ravadier villagers was their last ditch effort to find the key into the tower. The way we ended up solving this whole ordeal was by more or less giving the ghosts what they wanted so they could pass on peacefully and return the villagers to us. That’s how it got to one of them running away, not wanting to give up on life.” Cobal paused. “But the much more scary and pressing matter is the mage himself.”
“Did you meet him?”
“Not in person, but we spoke through some sort of magical device he created. He called himself Abu, and he is currently residing in the empire of Severanti. More importantly, he is from the same world as Mana.”
“Another person from that world.” Guthir asked.
Cobal nodded. “That’s the second one I’ve talked to now, and he seemed very different from Mana. Not to mention that he’s been in our world for a century or more, and he still looks to be no more than middle aged. It’s making me think what the true damage will be that people from another world can do.”
“So what your ministers have been shouting in the streets?” Guthir asked.
Cobal nodded. “I don’t agree with them on most of it, they’re the ones that accepted this summoning, and they only changed their mind when they realized Mana wasn’t some sort of unbeatable fighter. But the core of the argument, that bringing people from civilizations with very different technology to our world could cause a lot of damage.”
“What if it just helps us get more advanced faster? It’ll give us a leg up against some of the other continents, and if we can justify travel to them, it’ll open up all sorts of possibilities.” Guthir continued.
“Maybe. We know that my family originally landed here from another continent, but I honestly never looked into why we did so, and what pushed us to leave. All I learned about it was that it was a grueling journey that wouldn’t be easy to replicate. Although I’m sure with our more modern ships now, we should be able to cross the ocean. It’s interesting that it doesn’t happen more often.”
“Maybe this Abu person you spoke with knows more about it?” Diana suggested.
“Maybe.” Cobal spun his glass around slowly, thinking about a hundred things at once. “Or maybe he’s just some weird mage that likes toying with the dead.”
“Only one way to know for sure,” Guthir said. He put his hand on Cobal’s shoulder. “You’re going, aren’t you?”
Cobal nodded. “Even if I didn’t, I know for certain Mana is going. We also happen to know that two of our friends are currently in Severanti and they seem to be caught up in some strange thing. I think there isn’t a world in which I’m not going.”
“Then you’d best consider the state of things here and get some stuff in order first,” Guthir said. He winked at Cobal. “But first you should get some sleep, you’re welcome to come join us in the manor, your friends are welcome too.”

Diana and Guthir insisted that a celebration should be held in town for the heroes who brought back their missing villagers. Word had spread rather quickly that Fred was still missing, but with the rest of the villagers returned, faith in the pirates had grown tremendously. Where the villagers were very hesitant to allow them anywhere near Ravadier when they first docked a few weeks ago, they now welcomed them into town as they set up a large feast in the inn and the surrounding square. It was a bit cold to celebrate outside, but bonfires were lit to make up for it and the guests of honor of course had space reserved for them inside the building. Sebastian and his wife had spent all day baking for this feast and many of the other villagers brought fruits, meats and whatever they had to offer to thank Cobal, Mana and the crew of the Tidesetter for bringing back their friends and family safely. Even Dobas had joined in the celebration, despite it having a bit of a somber edge to it for him as his husband was still missing. Cobal let himself go in the joys of celebration and quickly found himself drinking more than he usually did. He spent some time talking with many of the different villagers that he truly forgot some of his troubles for a little bit. It wasn’t until much later in the evening, when most of the villagers had already gone to bed and only three dozen or so villagers were still celebrating with the pirates, that Cobal found that his head was becoming too unfocused for him to continue drinking. He needed some fresh air, so he left the inn and started a walk to the outskirts of town, to cool down his head a bit. After taking a leak on the side of a hopefully abandoned shed, he walked to where the town ended and the beach started and sat down in the sand for a while. This was where it felt like it all started. He met Mana only a few days before they set out for Ravadier last year, but they spent a fair bit of time there, and this was the place where he first started to realize that there might actually be more to this timid woman that had suddenly been thrust into his life. He let out a deep sigh as he listened to the sound of the waves hitting the shore and retreating back. The fresh air turned his chaotic head more clear and although he still felt a pleasant buzz, his thoughts were definitely becoming a bit more organized.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” A voice said behind him.
He let himself fall backwards into the sand to see who approached him. He tried to desperately regain some of his composure when he realized it was Diana who had walked up to him on the deserted beach.
“Would you like to join me for a walk?” She asked.
Flustered but in no place to say no, Cobal agreed and the two set off for a slow walk along the coast, the moonlight being their only guide in the dark winter night.

The strange buzzing noise that the screen made faded as the image itself disappeared. Silence filled the mage’s tower as the four of them were rattled by what just happened. Communicating through a screen with someone that is in a different kingdom was a weird experience. Not to mention that this was only the second person Cobal met that was from another world and just the sheer intensity that Abu gave off was so different from what he expected. He could see that out of everyone, Eliana was the least unfazed, which was unsurprising. Kenar was fidgeting, his attention aimed at the trapdoor leading to the attic where the end of his life on this world would be found. Mana was processing what was happening, so it was up to Cobal and Eliana to get going. Without saying anything, they opened up the trapdoor and almost made the other two jump when the ladder came loudly clattering down. Upstairs was a dusty collection of strange artifacts, chests filled with coins and a bunch of paintings of strange landscapes Cobal had never seen before, but he pretty quickly assumed belonged to the world that Abu and Mana came from, looking at how alien some of the things looked. But for now they made a promise that the only thing they would pick up was the strange censer that allowed the pirates to get unbound from their curse and pass on to the next world. It wasn’t hard to spot, as it stood there on a plinth, staring right at them with smoke pouring out of it. “It almost feels anticlimactic,” Eliana commented.
“I honestly prefer that to something more dangerous.”
“Agreed.” Cobal picked up the censer and they moved back down the ladder to Kenar and Mana.
“You good to go?” Cobal asked.
Mana nodded. “Just a lot to think about, but let’s get out of here.”
The foursome carefully traveled back down the path they took and made their way to the exit, where they were awaited by Fareh who had a grim look on her face. “Something bad happened while you were in there, Bartew attacked Jarrod and then ran off into the ocean, we don’t know where he went.”
“What do you mean he ran off into the ocean?” Eliana asked.
Kenar cursed. “He must have taken one of the lifeboats.”
“Can that get him all the way to shore?” Eliana asked.
“I don’t know, but knowing him he probably had some sort of escape plan ready. I’m sorry, I really should have seen this coming.”
“Well, let’s take things one step at a time, first gather everyone on the deck of the Tidesetter, and we’ll move from there.” She looked at Fareh. “How is Jarrod?”
“He’ll live, but it’ll take some time for him to recover.”
“Good, come on.”
It was a grim gathering on the ship, with the ghost pirates all nervously awaiting what would happen next. Eliana put the censer on the deck in front of her. “Now, I know this isn’t quite how we expected things to go, but chasing after Bartew will be our next step. We first want to get the people of Ravadier back, so this is goodbye.”
Kenar smiled. “I’m actually kind of sad to be going now, it’s been lively lately.”
“Well, we made an agreement after all.”
He nodded. “And I still want to pass on, it’s been a life way too long and much too filled with strife. I think most of us are in agreement on that,” he looked around at the other ghost pirates, “but making the actual decision is still not easy.” He walked up to the censer and sat down in front of it. “Thanks for freeing us, good luck with finding the captain.” He put his hand out and reached for the censer. He paused, his hand hovering just before the strange smoke emitting object. “You know, this isn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. I’ve had decades to think about this moment, and I yearned for it for much of that time. We all knew what sort of people we were and who we were dealing with. None of us will sit here and pretend we were innocent victims, but we do have regrets.”
Cobal saw several of the other ghost pirates nod along, with two of them even tearing up a bit.
“All we wanted was a better life, but things didn’t go as planned and we ended up being on the wrong side of things. Our punishment was severe, but it wasn’t anything we didn’t call upon ourselves.” Tears filled his eyes as he continued to speak. “I know I’ve committed some crimes in my youth that I could never take back, and I’ve robbed some people that had it even worse off than me. But I’m really sorry, and I regret it immensely. I just wish I could apologize to the people I hurt.” He started sobbing.
Cobal put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “As acting prince of the kingdom Blueyerd I will pardon any crimes committed and considering the time served as your penance. And as a friend, I forgive you.”
Kenar smiled through the tears. “Thank you, friend.” He put his hand on the censer and collapsed.
“Kenar?” Cobal asked.
There was no response.  After a few moments, the body sat back up, looking around very confused. “Where am I? Who are you all?”
“Is this your body?”
“What?” The man looked down. “What does that question even mean? Of course this is my body, what have you done to me? Why am I crying”
“It’s a lot to explain and we will get to that, but for now it’s good to know that this was a success. Please, have a seat over there and give us a little time before we explain what happened.”
The man wanted to argue more, but Eliana’s stern look made him back down, and he sat off to the side, looking around very confused.
One by one, the ghost pirates touched the censer, some more hesitant than others, until finally all but one of the Ravadier villagers had been saved. Bartew – in the body of Cassandra’s uncle Fred – would have to be chased down, but this was a lot of progress.
Cassandra and Eliana explained everything that happened with the ghosts, the possession and how they had managed to bring everyone back just now and were going to take everyone home. It took some convincing to make everyone step in line, but at the end of the day, the villagers accepted from Cassandra that everything that Eliana said was true, and soon the camp was being broken down and everyone was getting ready to head back to Ravadier.
Cobal accompanied Mana back down to their chambers where she sat down. “Thanks, I really need some rest.”

After everyone finished gathering their belongings, Cobal and Mana returned to the tower and made sure it was locked up again. They took the key with them and buried it somewhere on the island that they would be relatively likely to find again. Since Abu hadn’t requested them to do anything specific with it, this felt like a logical thing to do. As much as Mana and Cobal trusted Eliana, they were both in agreement that the fewer people knowing about the location of the key, the better. There was some stuff in there that would be quite dangerous when exposed to the world. Now they were standing on the bow of the ship as the island was slowly getting smaller and smaller behind them.

“How are you feeling?” Mana asked.
Cobal sighed. “Not great.”
“Same here.”
“It’s been tough lately, hasn’t it?”
“Well, what do you expect, we’re heroes aren’t we?”
“Stop it, I can barely see past the sarcasm.”
“I’m starting to seriously wonder why I’m here lately.”
“What do you mean, you’re doing great.”
“Great? What have I done? I’ve sent some ghosts to the afterlife and failed to save a prince from a cult. At least you managed to make Kenar feel heard and at peace in his final moments. I was just there to look on.”
Cobal smiled. “Do you really see things that way?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mana, you managed to climb up a mage’s tower filled with traps and riddles like it was nothing. There might as well not have been any obstacles with how quickly you navigated us through that thing. Do you know how impressive that is?”
Mana shrugged. “I had the benefit of knowing some tricks from my old life.”
“Knowledge can be a big boon when saving the world.”
“One ghost pirate at a time.”
Cobal nodded. “One ghost pirate at a time.” He turned around, leaning his back against the railing of the Tidesetter. “Look, we both know that there are expectations. The hero from another world is summoned here to make the kingdom prosper and protect us from our enemies. Yet all we got was this snivelling woman who didn’t do anything as the prince vanished, war started and now Diana and Guthir are warning us for total collapse.”
“Allright, no need to make me feel even worse.”
“But you’re not seeing the bigger picture here.” Cobal locked eyes with her. “I was never a big reader when I was young, but my mother would read me stories about heroes and knights to instill a sense of justice and pride into me. You would probably call it propaganda or something negative.”
Mana chuckled. “I’m not quite that jaded.”
“Anyway, some of those heroes would save kingdoms and fight wars, yes, but there were others who would look out for the normal people. They never set out to be heroes. They just did the right thing when presented with choices. Being a hero isn’t about finding the axe of Marachath and splitting a mountain in half to reroute rivers and flood a battlefield, or to smite an army from the sky with a single magical spell. Being a hero is doing what you can in the situations you find yourself in, worrying about others before worrying about yourself.”
Mana didn’t respond for a while. “There goes my hero, he’s ordinary.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing, just thinking about some more songs from my own world.” She smiled. “I miss Kimi and Mirgia.”
“We’ll go find them once we report back about this.”
“Don’t you have a marriage to plan first?”
“I think I do.”

The Hesitant Hero will unfortunately go on another one week break after today’s chapter. I need some time to plan for the upcoming final arc of the volume. I will give a new update next week where I’ll talk about my plans and the future of this story. Don’t fret, you will still get an entire finished volume well before the year is over. Thanks for your understanding and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Dust fell down from the ceiling as a rickety wooden staircase slowly descended downwards, revealing what they would soon know to be the top floor of the tower. After she finished her burst of laughter, Mana tapped three of the pedestals in order and this activated the staircase.
“How the hell did you figure this out, I still have no idea,” Kenar commented.
“It’s a puzzle that you can really only solve consistently if you’re from our own world. It’s a reference to a song that’s very iconic in my time.” Her smile faded and a more serious look appeared on her face. “Although this probably means that whoever made this tower is not only someone from my old world, but also someone from around the same time I lived. The song was only a few decades old when I was there and iconic as it was, I doubt it would be a commonly remembered song another hundred or so years later, so I am thinking this person might be from a very similar time as me. Considering this person has been here for seemingly over a hundred years already, that worries me since I don’t know what that says about time.” She sighed. “But let’s worry about that later, for all we know there are more dangers awaiting us.”
She stepped up the rickety staircase and ascended it to the next floor.
Despite their trepidation, it seemed like they had made it past the traps and were now in what was likely the wizard’s room or office. It had a setup like an office, where there was a large curved desk in the center back of the room, facing the door. A leather chair stood behind it, empty but worn out through years of use. There wasn’t much in the way of other furniture, but a few objects stood on the table. One of them was a strange looking box that Cobal had never seen before. In one of the corners was a small pile of clothes while in another were some neatly stacked books. A thick layer of dust covered all of it but when Cobal looked at it closely he saw some footprints through the dust. Although the footprints did have some dust on them as well, they were much more recent than most of the layer of dust in here, probably within a couple of weeks compared to many years.
Mana took the lead in this room, seemingly not able to stop herself from knowing there might be someone from her world that was here. The idea excited Cobal as well, Mana had been such a wellspring of wisdom and friendship over the past year and a half that it excited him that there might be other people from her world here. But he was also worried what sort of people they might be and he hadn’t forgotten what this person did to Kenar and the other ghost pirates, deserved or undeserved. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen while they walked around the room, so they all focused their attention on the desk. “What do you think this box is?” Eliana asked.
“It looks like a computer setup, but obviously it isn’t one,” Mana said.
“A computer?”
“One of the most bizarre things my people invented. But to cut a long story short, it’s a very smart machine that allows you to do a number of things, including look up information, communicate with people far away and play games. The box is a monitor, the screen you would see the information on. At least, it is modeled after one, but I think this is mostly a cardboard screen. Next to it is a keyboard, the way you would input the numbers and letters into the computer. Mana absentmindedly moved her finger along the keys, but they didn’t seem to move. “It’s all just made to look like the original, but it tells me everything I need to know about this person.” She trailed off towards the end of the sentence, spotting something. “A note? What does this word mean?”
Metocari. Cobal read it over a few times but just like Eliana and Mana, the word had no meaning to him. “I’ve never heard it before. It was on the flag outside too. I figured it might be something from your world.”
“Perhaps. If it is, it’s not something I’m familiar with.” She took her hand to the keyboard, towards the M key.
Click. It seemed to push in just a little bit.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
The final click was a little bit louder than the others and after a few moments of quiet, something appeared on the screen. At least that’s how it seemed at first, but it was ever so slightly in front of the screen, hovering above the keyboard itself. And on this screen, a face appeared.

“It has been many long years since my master and I left that spell in my tower and it seems my patience is finally rewarded.” The man smiled a wide smile. “Welcome to my old home, Mana the hero.”
Cobal looked at the screen, unsure what was happening. He’d never seen anything like this before. Was this magic of some sort? How was this person here while also not here? He had so many questions.
Mana sat in the chair that was behind the desk and smiled back at the screen. “I’m not sure I appreciate being reminded of video calls for work, but hearing the clicking of a keyboard was almost pleasant. What may I call you?”
The man’s smile grew even wider, which freaked Cobal out a bit, as if this person was impossible to read. His green eyes were piercing and angry and didn’t match the smiling face at all. Despite being from the same world as Mana, he looked quite different. Tanned skin, a muscular build and a big scar running across his face.
“Although it is not the name I was given, you may call me Abu, for that is who I am to my people.”
“Nice to meet you Abu, it seems you already know my name and – if you can see them from where you are – these are Cobal and Eliana.”
“I can, and it is a pleasure to meet the both of you, Prince Cobal and Captain Tidescreecher.”
“You know a lot,” Eliana remarked.
“I’ve been around for a long time. Besides, did you really think you could camp out next to my home for weeks and not ring any alarm bells?” He chuckled. “I spoke with a friend of yours not long ago, an elven fellow named Mirgia. He’s a real figure of importance here after what he did.”
“What? Mirgia is there? Where is he now?”
Abu shrugged, “I think he left already, I’m sure he’ll contact you if it’s important enough.” He crossed his arms. “But enough platitudes, I’d love to hear why you came to my tower and what I can do for you.”
“That’s rather helpful out of nowhere,” Cobal commented.
“I am a helpful person after all. Besides, it’s not every day someone solves my riddles.”
Mana smiled. “The 21st night of December.”
“A wonderful tune, although a bit old by the time of my departure from your world.”
“That is probably the most burning question I have. Where and when are you from? And of course it would be rude for me to not share the same information about myself. I am from Western Europe in the late 2020s.”
“I’m from Egypt, early 2030s.” His smile faded. “Not too far removed, yet so distant at the same time.”
“It is interesting to know there’s someone similar to me in this world though.”
“Similar, yes.” He smiled again.
“I have a million questions for you.”
“I’d like to stop you there. The runic magic that runs this communication is limited and since my master is the one who set it up, I can only operate it for a short time before it ends. I would gladly answer any big questions you have in person, but keep things short and concise for now.”
Mana nodded. “Understood, let me cut to the chase. My first question is, how can we get the pirate crew that you cursed when they tried to rob your tower to be freed from their mortal shackles, so that we can get the villagers of Ravadier back who they possessed.”
Abu thought for a few moments. “They were caught up in an unfortunate experiment that I was running at the time. There is a censer in the attic above you. If they touch this, their souls will be forcefully dissipated and they will pass on to the next life, wherever that may be. It shouldn’t hurt the villagers that are possessed by them. It’s a relic from the church of Owlana, and quite a powerful one. She’s not happy that I have it, but we can’t make everyone happy in life, now can we?”
“Another question then, if we’re pressed for time.”
“Shoot.”
“Where are you now, exactly?”
“I am in the capital city of the Severanti Empire.”
“That’s north of here, right?”
“Most things are, since my tower is at the southern tip of the continent.” He chuckled.
“That’s right, makes sense. I’m still learning the topography of this world, I’ve only been here for a year and a bit. Which brings me to my next question, how long have you been here?”
“About two hundred years.”
This shocked Mana. “You don’t look like you’ve been here two hundred years.”
“Time is interesting for people like us. But that is another conversation I would like to have in person and not over a video call. I can’t know who’s listening in on this after all.” His attention was drawn by something off to the side. A voice spoke to Abu and Abu nodded. Cobal tried really hard to listen in on what was being said, but he could only hear a few words. The words he did hear were interesting though.
The emperor.
Sorda’Thun requests an audience.
The sudden visitors.
Abu waved the person away and returned his attention to the screen. “Sorry about the interruption, my people need my help shortly, which means I need to cut this conversation short. You are free to use the censer to help your people about, I never meant for innocent villagers to get caught up in this trouble after all. But please do put it back and do not touch any of my other treasures I have stored there. You owe me a small favor for this, but you will owe me quite a bit more if you mess with my belongings.” His friendly smile faded and for a second he looked terrifying, before he went back to a neutral face. “I look forward to meeting you in person, we have much to talk about when we do, after all.”
“Thank you for your help with this problem, Abu. I will visit at my earliest convenience for a chat, but I will warn you that it might take some time.”
“That’s quite alright, I look forward to having you as my guest.” The screen flickered.
“It seems the runic magic is running out, so I must go.”
“One last question, if I may,” Cobal interrupted.
“Prince Cobal. Make it a quick one.”
“Runic magic, do you have any connection to the Jasmine Order?”
Abu’s eyes narrowed. “I do not. Well, not in the way you’re asking at least. The person who trained me in runic magic is the same person who trained one of their members in this magic, but that is where the connection ends. It’s another thing we can discuss when you visit.”
The screen flickered again.
“I wish you a good day and hope to see you soon. Goodbye.”

To call this place strange would be underselling it. The moment Cobal stepped over the boundary into the tower he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his skin started to tingle. This place was different. He couldn’t explain how it was different, he just knew that it was. Looking at the others, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way. He hadn’t seen Eliana this on edge in a while. Mana was very regularly on edge and he didn’t know Kenar well enough but if something could make a ghost tense then it must be impressive. Despite feeling on edge, nothing seemed to be happening and after a tense few moments, Mana was the first to start looking around and taking careful steps. It was in moments like these where Cobal could see her curiosity win over her anxiety and he couldn’t help but chuckle at it. “It looks like the sliding doors are operated with magic after all,” she remarked, pointing out several runes that were placed around the door. “Looks similar to the runic magic the cult uses, so that’s worrisome.”
“Cult?” Kenar asked.
“Don’t worry about it, that has nothing to do with you,” Cobal cut him off. “Did you see any of those magic runes the last time you came here?”
Kenar shook his head. “We didn’t notice them at the very least.”
“Well, they might be the reason you were killed so easily, so we should be wary of those.”
“I actually have an idea.” Mana said.
“Is it a good idea?”
“Only one way to find out.” She took out the quill of Jerech Sez that she’d been using a lot lately. She was quickly getting more and more proficient with it. She carefully drew several words onto the ground in front of her. Light. Trap. Find. The words started to merge together after she finished until it turned into a glowing ball that floated around the room, bouncing to different places and lighting up runes whenever it came across them.
Mana looked slack jawed. “I can’t believe that actually works, this quill is incredible. The possibilities might truly be endless. I almost feel silly for trying to learn other forms of magic.”
“Well, I’m sure having a diverse set of skills could be useful, you won’t always have time to carefully draw out your magic.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Mana carefully made her way through the room, keeping a close eye on all of the runes that were lighting up. Cobal looked around as well. The walls were made of a slick looking marble with lines carved into it and the actual floorspace was mostly empty except for two chairs that stood towards the back. It didn’t seem like there was any good reason for a pair of chairs to be here, but it was hard to say what the logic behind any of this was. Their goal was towards the back of the room, a spiral staircase that slowly disappeared into the ceiling. “Now just to be safe,” Eliana turned to Kenar, “you know nothing about the upcoming floors either, right?”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember anything past entering the building and losing consciousness rather quickly afterwards. I don’t know if more happened and my memory of it became hazy through magic or time, or that we simply were killed right after we entered. Either way, I’m afraid that I’m of no more use to you than being a target for any magic by going first.”
“It could be dangerous,” Mana said.
“I already died a long time ago, I can’t imagine things getting much worse. You folks still have lives ahead of you.”
“Well, if that’s what you want to do, I won’t stop you.”
Kenar walked ahead of the rest of the party and carefully stepped up the spiral staircase before disappearing beyond their sight. A moment of tense silence followed before he called out. “It’s a weird room, but I think it’s safe to come up here.”
Cobal stepped up the stairs to the next room, and found himself in one of the strangest places he had ever seen. The walls were painted in strange patterns that made his head hurt as he looked at them.
“Avert your gaze,” Mana said.
“Is that dangerous magic?” Cobal asked.
“No, it’s optical illusions. The paint on these walls won’t hurt you in any way, but it will disorient you if you look at it too much. Don’t look at it for the same reason you don’t look at a fire, it will make it harder to look at other things and might make you a bit dizzy.”
“Hmm, I see.” Cobal looked around carefully, making sure not to stare at the walls or ceilings too much. The rest of the room seemed to be fine, but there wasn’t much of interest here. If you just looked at the floor itself and not any other place, you would think this was any old shed.
“Stay where you are, let me work the magic again.” Mana pulled out the quill and started drawing different words together again. Cobal noticed that her chest was going up and down much faster and there was sweat on her forehead. She was definitely pushing herself with this magic. Still, he didn’t comment on it, it was necessary right now and asking her to slow down would be an insult to her effort. After a tense few moments her magic revealed the numerous amounts of glyphs, traps and other magical corners in the room. “I suspect this room is where you all perished and this is also the one that’s aimed to deal with any intruders. The previous room seems much more aimed at chasing away some simple thieves, but this room means business.”
“What happens if we trip the alarm?” Kenar asked.
Mana pointed at several holes and marks on the ceiling and floor. “I’m guessing deadly darts or something of the sort will shoot out of the wall, which is impossible to investigate properly, and kill whoever steps on a trap. In this chaos anyone would panic and be disoriented and quickly step on the wrong spots. Lucky for us, there is a path to move through it. Let’s be careful where we stand.”
“How do we get out of this room?” Cobal asked. He couldn’t see a road out of here.
“There’s a staircase at the back of the room, but due to the way the walls are painted it’s really hard to see from here. Just follow my lead and you’ll be good.

After a very tedious walk through the second floor of the tower, the four of them made their way up the staircase. Just as Mana had said, there was indeed a staircase that was hidden by the illusory paint. Cobal felt nauseous from the moving environment as if it were actually moving and as far as he was concerned, this was actual magic. But after making it through this room, they got into another chamber that looked much less dangerous. But looks can be deceiving, so after a short breather Mana took out the quill of Jerech Sez and started on her magic again.
“Are you sure you can handle another use of this?” Cobal asked.
Mana nodded. “I’ll probably need to sleep for about thirty hours straight after we leave this place, but this won’t have any lasting effect, compared to dying from a trap.”
“Fair point.”
Despite Mana’s caution, it seemed like there were no traps in this room, so at least they could relax a little. The next problem they faced was that there seemed to be no way of getting up to the floor above this one, no matter where they looked. The room was fairly straightforward, with stone walls which Mana explained were concrete and a wooden floor and ceiling. Eliana offered to break the ceiling, but Mana told her not to do so, as it could be dangerous. Instead they should focus their attention on the four different pedestals that were in the room. Each of the pedals had a different design. One of them looked like it was twisted around itself, curving in strange places and holding a ruby gemstone at the top of the tower. Another one was made out of glass and looked to almost be liquid the way it reflected the light that passed through it from some unseen lightsource at the center. A sapphire sat at the top. A third pedestal looked rigid and almost like it was a tiny sculpture of a tall mountain peak, with a slab of granite at the top. The final of the four pedestals was also made out of glass, but strange symbols were carved into it that looked like a line that made a loop before continuing in a straight line. It all looked very unfamiliar to Cobal.
“Any idea?” Mana asked the group.
“Well clearly they represent the elements.” Eliana said.
Mana looked surprised.
“What, didn’t think I could contribute? I’ve raided my fair share of strange places throughout the years and people who like puzzles love using the different elements for this stuff. Or references to the gods, or times of day, it’s the very basics of puzzle solving.”
“That’s actually a really smart thought.”
“Again, you don’t have to sound so surprised.”
“So how do we solve it then,” Cobal asked.
“No clue.”
“And the fleeting moment of being impressed vanished into thin air, not to be seen again for a long time,” Cobal replied.
“Let’s look around then,” Eliana suggested, “you said this room should be safe enough, right?”
Mana nodded. “No magical traps or any obvious traps, but of course you have to stay on guard.”
The four of them spread out and inspected the circular room. Cobal looked at the four pedestals first, and found them to be mesmerizing in how beautifully they were crafted. It reminded him of some of the artwork he saw back in the Sapphire Respite that he didn’t quite understand. It was very clear that they represented the elements though, now that it was pointed out to him. After finding nothing on the pedestals he started looking for anything on the floor when Kenar tapped him on the shoulder. “What does that say?” He asked, pointing and some scribbled on the ceiling. Cobal squinted. Do you remember?
“Mana, Eliana, we found something.”
Cobal pointed it out.
Eliana shrugged, “I have no idea what that means, I’ve never been here before after all.”
To the shock of all three of them, Mana just burst out in laughter when she read the words.
“She’s snapped,” Eliana said. Cobal agreed.

They gathered at the camp the next morning to discuss what they would do next. Mana procured the key that Cobal found the previous day. Sitting around the wobbly table in the sand were representatives from each camp. Eliana and Fareh were joined by Bartew and Kenar. Mana, Cassandra and Cobal sat opposite them as Mana laid the key on the table and looked around. “Cobal found this object in the water last night. I’ve taken the morning to look at it and although it’s hard for me to really figure out what it is, I’m pretty confident that it’s the key to the tower.”
“And where does this confidence come from if you can’t even figure out what it is?” Bartew sneered at her.
“The engraving on this object is similar to one in the door of the tower, so it would be a logical conclusion that the two are related.”
“It could still be a different object that has to do with the tower.” Bartew countered.
“It could, perhaps we should just throw it in the ocean and let you rot here,” Eliana said, clearly done with his attitude already. “Just listen to the young lady and shut your mouth.”
Bartew wanted to say more but Kenar put his hand on Bartew’s shoulder and shook his head.
Mana continued. “I suggest that our safest bet is to put together a team that goes to the tower and explores it. We want to be as careful and meticulous in our approach as possible. Just because we have the key to the tower itself doesn’t mean we’ll be welcomed with open arms. Maybe it serves as some way to give us safe passage, but I somehow doubt it.” She looked around the group again before continuing. “Now, that leaves me with the question of who will go in with me.”
“Are you sure you should be going in?” Cobal asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“It could be very dangerous and you are too important to lose to some sort of trap or magic.”
Mana smiled. “The same could be said for any of us,” she countered.
“I know some people who I wouldn’t mind throwing into danger,” Eliana scoffed.
“That would only hurt the people whose bodies they possess.” Cassandra reminded the fiery pirate captain.
Eliana sighed. “Fine, whatever, I’m going in with you.”
“So am I,” Cobal said.
“I should come along too,” Kenar said.
“Why?”
“It was our fault that this happened in the first place so I think we should take some responsibility in fixing this problem too.” He looked at Bartew who shrugged. “Do as you wish.”
“Then it’s settled, I think sending in a small group is smarter than sending in a large group, so this should be a good number.”
Cobal was surprised that Cassandra didn’t want to join them, knowing her curiosity about things in general, but he also knew she had very little skills that could be of use in a tower filled with unknown magic, so it was probably a wise decision to stay behind. It would be four of them. Before they got ready to head to the tower, Kenar pulled Cobal aside.
“Listen, I wanted to give you a quick warning about the captain.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on Bartew and I worry that he’s changed his mind about all this. The rest of us want to be put to rest, but I think he’s still clinging onto hope that he can continue to live within the body he has possessed now. The fact that he once again has a working body has convinced him that this is his second chance at life. I suggest you have someone follow him closely until this is all over.”
Cobal nodded. “I’ll make sure it’s done.” He looked at the man, possessing a body that didn’t belong to him. Over the past few weeks Cobal had started to feel some pity for the ghosts. They were in this situation due to their own hubris, but the punishment for their crime was far harsher than it had any reason to be. “How are you faring throughout all of this?”
Kenar smiled wryly. “I can’t say I’m not scared. But just because these past weeks have been lively and – I have to admit – fun, doesn’t mean that this time is ours. We are borrowing someone else’s time without anything to give back to it. I’ve had a very long time to think about our situation and what it means to pass on, and I think I’m ready, although I’m sure I’ll hesitate when the time comes.”
Cobal smiled. “That’s a very honest response.”
“No point in hiding my feelings, I’m appreciative that you’ve given us the chance to finally rest.”
“First we need to get into that tower and find the artifact that keeps you stuck here without dying. For all we know we’ll be fellow ghosts in a day.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Kenar said with a grin.

The tower had been looming over them for the past few weeks, both physically and metaphorically. The reason they were all in this predicament in the first place was because the previous time someone went into the tower without permission things went so poorly that they can’t even explain what went wrong, just that everything went wrong. The way this thing was built even looked strange to Cobal, as if it wasn’t from this place at all. He felt a tingling feeling in his body and an idea crept into his mind.
“Whoever built this might have been from my world,” Mana commented, confirming Cobal’s fear. “This type of architecture doesn’t seem to exist around here and although it definitely looks different from buildings in my world, the influences are clear. I think whoever built this like Roman architecture, you can see that in the pillars, but wanted to give that look a more modern touch by adding in windows and what looks to be sliding doors.” She paused. “They look automatic, but I don’t think they could be. I didn’t see any signs of a generator and if there were solar panels on the roof we would have known.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Eliana complained.
“Don’t worry, it’s not relevant. What we should really focus on is how to get inside, I’m sure we’ll figure things out from there.”
“Sure, most of the things that are there to figure out will fall upon you though.”
Mana let out a deep sigh. “I’m very well aware.” She took the key from out of her bag and walked forward towards the door. She first held up the key to the door to see if anything would happen on its own, but nothing did. Cobal still wasn’t sure how the key would work. All things considered it just looked to be a metal cylinder with some symbols engraved into it. The symbols didn’t look like any writing he was familiar with and when he asked Mana she said she was pretty confident they didn’t come from her world either. Perhaps they were some sort of runic script as they did look a little bit similar to the runes that were being used by the cultists, but they didn’t have enough to go on when it came to that idea. When nothing happened she instead started looking for a place the key might go.
This was something Cobal could help out with, so he started looking around as well. The others stood off to the side, awkwardly waiting for the duo to find something. It was Eliana who ended up spotting something as she was pacing around a little away from the entrance. “What’s that up there?” she asked, pointing at a cylinder sticking somewhat out of the wall, to the top left of the door.
Mana and Cobal looked up. “It’s a flag holder,” Mana said. She immediately looked at the metal object. “I wonder if this goes in there.”
“Get on my shoulders and we can try,” Cobal suggested.
“I don’t know if I’m that limber, maybe try Eliana instead.”
The pirate captain smiled. “Want me to hop on the kids head and dump this key into that hole?”
“Just don’t hurt him too much,” Mana replied.
Cobal cupped his hands to give Eliana a lift up and seconds later she was standing on his shoulder. She put the key into the cylinder and pushed off from the wall, getting out of range quickly in case something weird would happen.
A strange combination of clicks sounded from near the door until it stopped. A second later a large piece of fabric shot out of the wall and unfurled, turning into a flag of a country Cobal didn’t recognize. In the center of the flag stood a single word in the common script. Metocari.
“Now what?” Eliana asked. The flag had revealed itself like it was some sort of grand gesture, but nothing happened after that initial surprise. They all stood a little bit away from the entrance to the tower since they weren’t sure if something would happen. When it seemed safe enough, Mana was the first to step forward.
“I still don’t see a way to open this door,” Cobal commented right as the door slid open on its own. “What sort of magic is that?” He asked.
“Automated doors, they sense movement. I don’t know how they work in my world, but I’m guessing this one is powered by magic.” She steeled herself. “Time to enter the belly of the beast.”

I am aware that these last couple of chapters have been a little bit short. I have some things to consolidate and adjust for the final version eventually.

Oops, I forgot to properly schedule this post and it didn’t go through. Apologies for the short delay

“While you were off flirting with nobility, I did some hard work here on the island,” Mana proclaimed, after coming up from the water. She quickly put a towel over her shoulders. “It’s freezing down there, I’m not enjoying this.”
“You don’t have a lot to show for that hard work.”
She smirked. “That’s where you’re wrong, look at this.” She pulled out the quill of Jerech Sez from underneath her robe, still pristinely dry. “I figured out the perfect way to use this thing.”
“Enlighten me.”
“It can lead me to lost items.” She took Cobal’s scarf from around his neck and tossed it onto a nearby branch. “Watch this.”
She kneeled down with the quill and closed her eyes for a few seconds before tracing the word “scarf”. After finishing the last stroke, the letters popped out of the ground and started hovering in the direction of Cobal’s scarf.
“So what’s the point in inventing that diving bell then?” Cobal sat down, frustrated.
“Well, it seems that this sort of magic only really works at very short distances. If you don’t remember which room you left your car keys in it’s ideal, but if you dropped your wallet somewhere on your way home, you’ll probably be out of luck.”
“And that’s where the diving bell comes in?”
Mana nodded. “Exactly. We’ve already divided the search area into grinds and they seem like a pretty solid baseline to try out the quill. If the key is within range, the words should head in that direction. And since we have a dry spot underwater to write on, it will actually work. I’ve tested it and the quill doesn’t work underwater but it does work on the inside of the diving bell.”
Cobal smiled. “This is huge, this should make the search much easier.”
Mana nodded. “The only two hurdles are the fact that the search area could be as large as, well, everywhere, and the fact that I’m the only one who can use this quill and it takes quite a bit of energy for me to do so repeatedly.”
“Hmm, well at least the others can continue clearing other spots while you recover.”
“That’s true.”
Mana sighed. “Getting married huh?”
“Jealous?”
“A little bit. I was never a very social person in my old life.”
“You? I can’t imagine that,” Cobal said sarcastically.
“Shut it.” She smiled wryly. “I remember going on a date or two and just feeling completely out of my element. But marriage is definitely a bit different in my world. Status didn’t play much of a role where I’m from. You would just find someone you liked to spend time with and grow closer over time.”
Cobal thought of Salandra. “That sounds nicer than a political marriage.”
Mana nodded. “It does.”
They sat in silence for a while, staring at the Tidesetter as it slowly moved the diving bell along the seafloor. “Well they seem like nice people at least.”
“They are, especially considering our history with the Vadier family.”
“What history?”
Cobal looked around to see if there were any people listening in. This wasn’t a secret, but it was also something he shouldn’t loudly talk about too much. “Let me talk to you a little bit about the history between our families.” He sat forward and interlocked his fingers before starting his story.
“When my grandfather was still young, there was talk of a marriage between our families as well. Things weren’t nearly as friendly as they have been in the past two decades or so, we’ve gradually built up to that. My family wanted the resources that were richly available to the Vadiers, but Sagrath Vadier, the lord at the time, wanted nothing to do with us. His son however was very interested in my great-aunt, Skye Vadier. They were around the same age and she was only second in line to the throne, so a political marriage between the two was very much possible. They seemed to be pretty close already and the young Vadier was going to ask for her hand in marriage as soon as he came of age. Unfortunately, my great-grandparents had a different plan. Skye was instead used to strengthen relationships with a region that was still separate from Blueyerd back then, absorbing it into the kingdom. That’s the part of the country that Lord Meduer is from. Bitter from the sudden change, the Vadiers closed off from the kingdom for years, taxing any travelers and traders very high, which in turn caused the Blueyerd family to become more and more fed up with them. As generations passed, things became less tense, but it took quite a while.”
“Sounds almost like a story, except in a story the two would elope and live together happily ever after.”
“Unfortunately life isn’t always like the stories we tell around the fire.”
Mana nodded. “But sometimes it is. Perhaps you can get the happiness that your ancestors failed to procure.”
Cobal smiled. “You have a way with words.”
“I do what I can.” She got up. “I think I’ve recovered enough to go on another dive, want to come along?”
Cobal nodded. “Let’s do it, I want to see your magic in action.

The duo swam to the Tidesetter where they informed the crew that they’d be diving with the next round. Mana supplying air from above helped the diving bell stay useful longer, but it also tired Mana out, so sometimes they would just have to do with natural air supply. Two of the crewmembers swam back up not long later and tapped out for Mana and Cobal. Swimming still took some effort for Cobal since the shoulder wound he received all the way back when they were traveling to Milinia still stiffened his movements somewhat. There was a scar where the fiery creature had bitten him. He would one day pay back that damned woman for sending that lion after them. They never confirmed that it was her work, but there really was no other explanation since she also summoned the one in Milinia proper. But it wasn’t bad enough to stop him from moving, it’s just that the cold water seemed to make him feel less at ease. He came back up under the diving bell, seeing the inside for the first time. It was scarily dark down there until Mana summoned some light through the quill’s magic. She simply drew a strange looking flame that stayed in place and lit up the inside ever so slightly. “Now, watch this,” she said. She drew the words Wizard key on the inside of the bell. The words started swirling around the inside, moving in strange patterns until they seemed to detect something. They stopped to the left of where Cobal was treading water. “That’s easy, it just sends you in the right direction?”
Mana shook her head. “This is the first time it seems to be certain where to go. I think we might be close.” She smiled. “Maybe we get to go home before the winter after all.”
They swam back up and instructed the Tidesetter to move closer to where the letters led. They continued this process several times until Mana was completely exhausted and the sun was going down. “Should we continue tomorrow?” Eliana asked. She’d come from the camp to the ship to check on progress.
“I’ll dive one more time before the sun goes down, I feel like we’re too close to stop now.” Cobal said.
“Alright, but be careful, it’s definitely harder to see down there.” Mana said as she plopped down on the deck of the ship. “I’m exhausted, so I’m staying up here.”
“I’ll be back shortly.” Cobal dove back down to the diving bell that was floating about a meter above the seafloor. It regularly bumped into things as it seemed that part of this sea was once part of the island itself, and the underwater jungle made it hard to properly search. Despite this, it didn’t take long for Cobal to spot something that seemed out of order. Just as the sun was disappearing, the last few rays of light hit upon something shining on the seafloor. Hidden between the foliage was a strange object, about the length of Cobal’s forearm, that seemed to be made out of solid gold. It didn’t look like a regular key, but even if it wasn’t what they were looking for, it was definitely something worth grabbing, so Cobal did just that. As he took hold of the strange object he felt a weird sensation go through his body. He looked up at the surface above him and was surprised to see a stranger’s face right in front of his own. This stranger had no eyes in their eye-sockets but instead several colorful gems were floating around their head, moving in strange patterns. The visage grinned at him before disappearing into nothingness. Terrified by what had just occurred, Cobal rushed back to the surface and climbed onto the Tidesetter with the help of Jarrod.
“That was a scare and a half,” Cobal said, panting on his back.
“What happened?” Eliana asked.
“Found a strange object that might be the key, then saw someone’s face stare at me right as I grabbed it. Then it disappeared and I swam up here as quickly as possible.”
“A strange face?”
Cobal nodded. “It had no eyes, but gemstones flying around it instead.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like it,” Eliana said. She looked at Mana who also shook her head. “Show me what you’ve found though.”
Cobal held up the strange object that he had found and showed it to the others.
“At the very least that looks expensive, but I don’t know if it’s a key,” Eliana said, holding it up and inspecting it from different angles. She gave it to Mana.
“I think it might be what we are looking for. If the bell pointed in this direction and this is what you found here, then it might be some sort of strange magical key. Either way, mark the location where we are on your map and let’s call it there for the day. If this isn’t what we want it to be, we can just come back here tomorrow.”
Eliana nodded and walked over to her quarters where the map was located. The Tidesetter then lifted its anchor and sailed back to camp.