“I think we should flee the country!” I shouted to the group of bedraggled traders. They each gave me confused looks, varying from baffled to only partially baffled.

  The dragon that had tried to kill me that one time glared at me, “Aremolot are everywhere, you can’t get away from them even if you go to the other continent.”

  Eliax regarded him, ~You know, I think he has a point there, if their oceans float too—and I think they do—there’s no way the worms wouldn’t have made their way across that.~

  I snorted, “oh, fantastic, what other options do we have then? The world is only so big!”

  ~Seriously, please stop trying to piss off every dragon you see…~

  I metaphorically glared at the person who shared my brain, ~now now, it’s an instinct, and I’ll have you know it’s a very useful instinct!~

  ~Teizen is looking at the sky.~ the third piece of our brain chimed in. She was usually very quiet, and in the last few days as we’d dissolved that crystal she’d only ever taken control to ask people for their stories. But when she had that drive out, it was hard to stand in her way. In the end, we’d decided not to shove each other into clones, even when there were too many problems for one body to tackle. We’d probably break that eventually, but for now it seemed to be working.

  Eliax thought about her observation, even as I disregarded it, chiming in again, ~What about Arendi? We have two people here who’ve made the journey before. They have to know a thing or two about the trip.~

  I brightened at that, raising my arms to the sky, “What if—now hear me out here, it’s a really great idea—what if we went to Arendi?”

  Teizen looked at me sharply, her eyes incredulous. “That’s a horrible idea.”

  Branix shuddered, looking up at the large planet. “I’d probably die on the way this time around…”

  I gave them both blank looks, “What’s so dangerous about it?”

  “Oh don’t get me started.” Teizen sighed, “Swentvils. More swentvils. An unhealthy lack of air to breathe… oh, and did I mention swentvils?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Branix shuddered again, “So many swentvils…”

  “Huh,” I said, having absolutely no idea what those were.

  ~I’m pretty sure they’re a flying beast that lives on Arendi, in something called the storm zone.~ Eliax observed. ~They’re extremely dangerous and every mention of them included someone getting disembowled.~

  “Wow, disembowled? Gotta avoid that…” I muttered to myself.

  --

  Zolinal folded her arms, still possessing the same mortal as before. Astral stood beside me, smiling at her.

  “By the father himself…” Zolinal muttered, holding up a hand to massage her forehead, “You seemed very sure that you’d be on Arithren for quite a long time last we spoke. If this record continues, soon you’ll be out of worlds!” She sighed, putting her arms down. “This is the most disappointing revelation I’ve had in a hundred years, I hope you know.”

  Astral shook his head, “I offered to take her to Peldrin, but she refused to leave behind the leftbites.”

  “What, can’t bend your rules enough to allow unbound mortals in your territory?” Zolinal smirked, “One day you’ll admit that I’m right and let some of my Keepers in.”

  “And that day will be quite a ways away.”

  Zolinal sighed, “Well, Fora, there is something you should resolve when you get to Arendi.”

  Astral raised an eyebrow, “The Suiki?”

  Zolinal nodded, “That was her fault.”

  Astral sighed.

  I raised my hand, “What did I do this time? Was it at least impressive?”

  Zolinal smirked, “You could say that. Nelfourne, after meeting you, decided that they finally had a way to bring down the Niortak threat.” She sombered, “So they found their way to Arendi, and they’ve been masacering every Suiki settlement they can find.”

  The new piece of me, Rune as we’d started calling her, threw herself to the forefront before I even processed this. “What?! That’s horrible! Where are they, tell me! What can I do?!”

  Astral pulled out a book, “I can’t tell you that yet, but you will find them, I promise.” He opened the book to a page filled with schematics and diagrams.

  This had Eliax being thrown to the front, also gasping, “that’s! Oh my sparks! That’s what I’ve been researching! You’re telling me there are complete versions?!”

  Astral closed the book and handed it to her, leaving Eliax to flip through pages and pages of diagrams and notes. “This can get you to Arendi.” He folded his arms, frowning at us. “I don’t like constantly intervening with you, but I sense that it will continue to happen.” he sighed and dissapeared.

  Zolinal inclined her head and then she was gone too.

  Eliax opened the book, reading the title with baited breath. Flying machines of Arendi, schematics, blueprints, and concepts.