That evening, I cooked us dinner in my new kit, and couldn’t help but get excited about every little thing. The water pressure was fantastic! I had perfect trol over the temperature! The drinks and veggies for the sad came out cold from the fridge! Eveoasted bread from the pizza oven was just right! It was simply amazing, and I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. This pce—my pce—was everything I’d hoped for, and more.

  Rue, being Rue, was dead set ing “his” beanbag to the living room, refusing to settle for anything else. He kept shouting in my mind, “Mine! Bed! Mine!” Every time he yelled, Lis and Mahya’s faces twitched.

  Ha! They twitched after five minutes—I lived with it for five weeks!

  After dinner, Lis led me over to the stone pilr with the firepd said, “Tell it to open.” The pilr opened up, revealing a chamber filled with intricate runes and mana crystals. Lis expined, “Whenever you e across a spare crystal, just press it against a rune, and it’ll stick. This is the house’s mana reservoir. Even if you o recharge a crystal, pce it here, and it’ll fill up. At some point, the dungeon core will get too big to disguise as a mp, so put it here and use a ral aspect crystal in the light fixture. It’ll work just fine. If you find a wild dungeon and take the core, hold it against the core you have, flow mana through both, and they’ll fuse. That way, your core grow faster without relying on ambient mana. The more mana it has, the more it do. Eventually, you’ll be able to move walls, add floors, expand the house, and maybe even sail with it. Dungeon cores are highly valued for a reason. But not yet; the house isn’t there yet.”

  I tried to find the words to express what I felt, but this time, the English nguage failed me. There were simply no words adequate enough to vey my appreciation and amazement. So, I just hugged him and said, “Thank you.” over and over.

  He ughed and cpped me on the back. It seemed he didn’t have the words either.

  I slept in my NEW BEDROOM that night, even if it was on the crappy feather mattress I got in Shimoor. But I DIDN’T CARE—it was in MY NEW BEDROOM! I showered in MY NEW SHOWER the m, and it ERFECT!

  Lis and Mahya thought my enthusiasm was ‘cute.’ Mahya even pinched my cheeks until I had to push her away.

  St the house caused a slight strain, but it was manageable—much easier than the mental effort it took to pick up a snake and turn it into steaks.

  We drove to Toulouse, where I first insisted on buying a huge double bed with an excellent mattress, two nightstands, a wardrobe, and a chest of drawers. I also grabbed twur double beds, two small nightstands, and two chests of drawers for the guest rooms. Then I bought eight differes of porch furniture—three for the balies on the sed floor and five for the porch around the house.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t just store everything in the shop, so we had to rent an apartment for three days and wait for the deliveries. Mahya and Lis teased me non-stop during the whole time, but I didn’t care. My new home erfect, and I was making it eveer.

  We booked a flight to Naples and tried to call Lyura, but she didn’t pick up. On the flight, Rue sat on me again, and once more, I melted the entire flight. I threateo shave him, but he didn’t seem worried. He probably knew I was all talk.

  We arrived in Naples and tried calling Lyura again with no luck. I felt a surge ency—a force pushio act. It came from the same source that sometimes rebuked me, the same source that had guided me to find Mahya.

  “My gut’s telling me something happeo her. We o get to Sicily,” I told them, my growing.

  Mahya g me, her tone uain as she suggested, “Maybe she just left her phone in Ste.”

  I shook my head, the urgency from that mysterious sourtensifying. “No, something’s wrong. I feel it. We o get to Sicily, fast.”

  We booked a flight from o ia, but as soon as we got to the airport, I started feeling really stressed. It wasn’t just my own nerves—something deeper ushing this feeling, the same source that had guided me before. While we waited and flew, I felt this stant, unstoppable push, like an invisible hand urging me forward. When we finally nded in ia, I was freaking out, feeling like we were running out of time. We rented a car and drove straight to Mouna, feeling the urgency build up with every kilometer. The smoking crater was right there, but we couldn’t get to the top—the guided tours were only to some slopes, not the main crater. It made the urgency stronger, almost too much to handle. We hid behind some jeeps, cast Invisibility, and started climbing toward the crater.

  My heart raced as I activated my Luck, and just like before, that unseen force steered me in a specific dire. “She’s that way,” I said, my voice teh the urgency that wasirely my own.

  We moved a few more meters, and I sensed her. We found her buried under a pile of stones and ash. I used binocurs to make sure no one could see us. When I was sure, we started moving the stones and ash with telekinesis, finding her buried uwo meters of rubble and ash.

  I diagnosed her, and she was in terrible shape—many broken bones, lungs full of ash, barely breathing. She had internal bleeding in several pces and a severe cussion. I started healing her on the spot, fog on the lungs, internal bleeding, and cussion first. I drained my mana to almost zero, but she finally opened her eyes and coughed.

  Mahya hugged her tightly. “What happened?” she asked gently.

  Lyura’s voice trembled with self-reproach. “I’m stupid.”

  Mahya pulled back slightly, searg her eyes. “What did you do?”

  Lyura looked down, her shoulders slumping. “I was sitting here abs the element and started thinking about my mother. My anger grew and grew. I’m so stupid—I fot her warning that our element increases anger. My magic burst out of me, causing an avanche. I don’t know what happened after that.” Her voice cracked as she finished.

  We came down the mountain while invisible. Lyura ged clothes, and we removed the Invisible in a hidden spot. We drove back to ia and checked into a hotel. She was still not one hundred pert—bruises all over and several broken bones—but she hahe pain bravely.

  At the hotel, I sat tee, and every time my ma above 500, I healed her a little more until she was okay. All the while, Lis seemed deep in thought, his gaze distant as he mulled something over. When I finally assured him that she was fine, he hen turo her with a serious expression.

  “Where’s the Gate you came through?” he asked, his tone firm but not unkind.

  “Franear Lyon,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Lis leaned forward slightly, his eyes log onto hers. “I think you should stop traveling with us and go home to deal with your issues with your mother. You ’t keep going like this.”

  Lyura’s eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly stammered, “I’m sorry. It was a oime thing, I promise. I trol–”

  Lis raised a hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. “I’m not angry, and it’s not a punishment. I’m not your parent, and I have nht to tell you what to do. But hear me out.” He leaned back, softening his tohough his eyes remained serious. “You’re a raveler, and every raveler I’ve met has had a lot of questions. John here bombarded me with questions for a whole day, and after four years together, he’s still askihings. Mahya keeps asking for stories about iing worlds I’ve visited or people I’ve met. But you—” he paused, shaking his head slightly, “you’ve been with us for almost a year and haven’t asked me a single question.”

  He let his words hang in the air for a moment before tinuing. “When we go sightseeing, sure, you i with us. But when we’re sitting at home or the hotel, talking and ughing, ylued to the TV or watg YouTube videos on your puter. John, who’s o this than you are, already has three sub-csses. You don’t have any at all. We’re all stantly learning and progressing, but you—” he sighed, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice, “you aren’t doing anything.”

  Lis’s expression softened as he spoke again, his tone now tinged with . “You also always look angry and lost in your thoughts, like you’re carrying a weight that’s only getting heavier with each passing day. It’s like you’re here with us physically, but your mind is somewhere else entirely. You’re not really traveling, not in the way that matters. To be a Traveler is so much more than just moving from one pce to another. It’s about immersing yourself in the experience, soaking in every new sight, sound, aion. It’s about disc hings, those moments that make your heart rad your mind race even faster with possibilities. It’s about standing in awe of the beauty of the worlds, finding wonder in pces you never imagined.

  "Traveling should be a journey of learning and growth—learning not just about the worlds you visit, but about yourself. It’s about embrag the challenges and ges, allowing them to shape you, to make you stronger, wiser, more creative. It’s about creating, not just physically, but in the sense of building a life and a path that’s uniquely yours. It’s about progressing, not just in terms of abilities and skills, but as a person, growing into someone who’s more ected, more aware, more alive. And it’s about iing with people, sharing stories, learning from them, and allowing those es to enrich your journey. Most of all, it’s about enjoying life, finding joy in the small things, the big things, and everything iween. That’s what it means to truly travel. And that’s what you’re missing out on.

  "Otherwise, what’s the point of traveling? Go find a er to watch TV for a few years until the iion starts, and then move to aech world. But if you keep this up, yer will fre up again, and you might hurt yourself—or worse, one of us. Rue is fifty pert fur; he’ll catch fire in a sed, and most pces we stay have a lot of fabrid wood. It’s dangerous.”

  He leaned in closer, his eyes log onto hers with a mix of empathy aermination. “If you want to be a real Traveler, you have to hahis anger, or it’ll eat you up inside. I think what your mother did was wrong; I’m not bming you. But you have to deal with it before you be a real Traveler. And if you’re quick about it, even if we’ve already left Earth, you tact us through the Archive, get a Gate , and join whoever you wah is an amazing opportunity—not just because of the easy acquisition of ability points and csses, but also because of the abundance of Gates. id choose instead of being limited to five, eight, ten Gates oire p, with no fast travel or dangerous sea crossings to reae of them. But you o hurry; soon, pnes will be too dangerous.”

  Lis’s words hung in the air, his expression a mix of resolve and genuine for her well-being.

  Lyura just sat there and cried.

  Mahya hugged her and said, “You’re my friend, and I’ll always be happy to travel with you as much as you want and wherever you want. But Lis is right; you have to deal with the situation. You ’t keep going like this.”

  Rue walked up to her, put his head on her p, and shouted, “Friend!” Unfortunately, he shouted in my mind, too.

  Seeking to provide support, I put my hand on her shoulder. I could uand her—I also left Earth in a terrible state of mind. Although I healed and found closure elsewhere, I wished I didn’t have to. She had a ce to front her problem, and Lis was right; she o do it.

  When she finally stopped g, I gently guided her to her room, needing to recheck her and make sure she was really okay. As I Diagnosed her, I could also see the weight of everything she’d been carrying—both physically aionally. I sat down beside her, taking a moment before I spoke.

  “I left Earth in a bad mental state, too,” I began in a soft voice. “When I first started traveling, I wasn’t much different from you. I wandered aimlessly through the wilderness, trying to escape my pain, thinking I could outrun it. But the truth is, I was just lost, both inside and out. It took me a long time to heal emotionally, or at least to start the process. For months, I was a shell of myself, just moving from pce to pce without any real dire.”

  I paused, remembering those lonely days and nights. “It wasn’t until I met Lis that things started to ge. He was the first real friend I ever had—a brother, you might say. He taught me the true value of human es, something I never really uood before. Up until then, the only close retionship I’d ever had was with my wife, and that was a different kind of bond altogether. But friendship—real, deep friendship—that was somethio me.”

  I looked at her, making sure she was hearing me. “You’re already in a much better pce than I was back then. You’ve got three people here and one loud dog who siders you a friend—a dear friend. That’s something incredibly valuable, something to hold onto. But to really take advantage of that, to fully join us on this journey, you o deal with your issues. You have to leave the mental baggage behind, let go of the pain and ahat’s weighing you down.”

  I leaned in closer, my voice filled with ear encement. “Once you do that, you’ll be free—free to truly embrace this adveo explore new worlds with us, to create amazing memories together. We want you with us, but we he real you. So take the time you need, heal, and when you’re ready, join one of us for an incredible journey. I promise you, it’ll be worth it.”

  She nodded, hugged me, and said, “Thank you. Mahya told me your intuitioo my rescue, and she also told me how you rescued her. If you’re not careful, you’ll get offered the Knight in Shining Armor css.”

  We ughed, and I knew she would be okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but she would be.