Raine wasn’t expecting Lysandra to contact them after what happened in the lab. He would’ve needed a few weeks — at least — to be able to reach out to anybody present at something so heart-wrenching.

  So it came as a shock when he opened the front door a few days later, and Lysandra stood before him.

  “Lysandra?” he asked rather unnecessarily.

  Although she still smiled as she did before, there was no cheerfulness behind the smile. A sadness tinged her expression, but it was masked by unexpected seriousness.

  “Hello, been a while,” she waved. “Good to see you guys again.”

  Raine wasn’t going to lie, it was strange to see her be this formal and polite. She always treated them as close friends, even when they had only met once before.

  Ever the conversationalist, Nikolay stepped in from behind Raine. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, too. How can we help you?”

  “Yea- Yes, I’ll get to the point. So-” Lysandra cut herself off and pulled at her hair in frustration. “Argh, this sucks! Can I just be normal around you two? I seriously can’t do this right now.”

  Raine couldn’t stop a smile from forming. “Of course you can. What’s with the switch-up, anyway?”

  “Well, I thought it’d be a bit weird if I showed up all happy and stuff after what happened,” Lysandra sulked. “But I don’t get how those business-y conversations go. You don’t have to worry about me, by the way. I already did all my mourning for Cryzari when she first died, plus I don’t really consider that Time magic replica to actually be her.”

  She then pulled out a familiar sheath from her bag and held it out in front of her.

  “Actually, I came to give this back to Nikolay. You said the Link Severer belonged to you, right? After seeing how you handled the situation in the lab, I can see why you’re the original owner of this beautiful sword. Here, take it.”

  Nikolay gracefully accepted her gift. “Thank you. I know that the Link Severer meant a lot to you, too. I’ll carry on your wishes inside this sword.”

  “Pfft, that sounds silly,” Lysandra giggled. “Just go and kill that old immortal fart for the both of us, okay? You’re about to complete the prophecy, so I can’t imagine he’ll just lie around waiting for it to happen.”

  “That’s right. Although we’re close to the end, it doesn’t mean it’ll be a smooth finish. Is there anything else you needed?”

  “Not really. I just wanted to wish you guys well and give you a proper goodbye before you left.”

  Nikolay dipped his head politely. “Farewell, Lysandra. If our paths ever cross again, I hope that it’ll be under happier circumstances.”

  “And I hope that you can find a new ambition,” Raine chimed in. “If we do end up killing Guthasar, then there won’t be much left of the Order of Truth for you to dismantle.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Thanks for looking out for me, though. Bye now, you two. Good luck for your upcoming encounter!” Lysandra waved cheerfully as she retreated.

  She eventually turned around and walked down the road. The sun shone on her back, illuminating her flowing red-hair like a fire that blazed on its own terms.

  Raine smiled. He knew that this fire would never go out, no matter how hard the wind blew.

  —

  Now that the mysterious attacks and kidnappings were sorted out, it wasn’t long before the docks reopened.

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  Raine and Nikolay immediately headed to the docks as soon as they heard the news. They’d already wasted countless days in Marque, and the blood moon was fast approaching.

  Unfortunately, nobody seemed to share their urgency.

  “Serpent Isle? You’ll need to give me at least 1 month’s notice, I can’t seriously prepare all my emergency supplies in such a short time! That’s a death sentence!” one captain told them.

  Another one said, “I don’t care how much money you’re offering me, I’m not steering my ship to Serpent Isle. The life of my crew and my ship is worth more.”

  When asking around, it became clear that Serpent Isle had an infamous reputation amongst the captains. Boats mysteriously crashed when they were approaching it, empty ships drifted back to Marque’s shores, sirens called out to the sailors, every possible rumour was mentioned.

  At some point, Raine grew tired of being rejected. He sat down on an empty crate with a sigh.

  “Why does it feel like we keep running into roadblocks? I seriously just want this whole anticipation for the full prophecy to end already.”

  Nikolay looked around, then narrowed his eyes when he spotted a familiar face.

  “Leaving already? You don’t even have time to say goodbye to your best guide?” Irideis charmingly joked.

  Raine instantly perked up, the fatigue suddenly gone. “Irideis! We were going to say bye, but you weren’t at your house when we were packing up.”

  “Ohoho, I’m just joking. I thought you’d have some trouble finding a ship to take you across to Serpent Isle, so I was out all day trying to locate a friend of yours.”

  “Friend?” Raine asked. “Who do you mean?”

  “You haven’t seen her for a while, but she was the captain who brought you to Kosira. Remember her? She’s coming over right now.”

  A muscular woman, tanned from the unrelenting sun, walked up next to Irideis with a grin. She towered over everyone in the conversation, save for Raine, who was just barely shorter than her.

  “I won’t be offended if you don’t remember me,” she guffawed. “It was a long time ago, I’ll admit. The name’s Navi, so you don’t have to scramble for it.”

  “Of course I remember you, Navi. You helped me sort out my feelings when I first got tossed into this prophecy. It helped a lot, until… a certain reincarnating idiot decided to use the vessel too,” Raine nudged Nikolay with a grin. “Then things got turned upside down again.”

  Nikolay crossed his arms with a huff. “I’m glad we don’t have to deal with that body sharing situation anymore. Navi, I’m guessing you offered to take us to Serpent Isle?”

  “That’s right. Irideis here told me about your situation, and I wanted to give you guys a hand. Otherwise, you would’ve been hard pressed to catch a ride to Serpent Isle. You’re lucky that I don’t believe in rumours, I can tell you that. My ship’s not far from here — follow me.”

  Navi set off with a confident stride, while Nikolay followed behind. Raine went to follow them, but a cold hand on his wrist stopped him. He whipped his head back to face Irideis with a questioning look.

  “Just a moment, Raine. Since this is the last time we’ll meet, I want to have a few words with you. Here, take this. For protection,” Irideis winked.

  Cold metal slipped into Raine’s hand. He glanced down and saw a pistol, presumably fully loaded. Guns were a rare sight in Kosira, and it was precisely because of the magic that its residents practiced. A bullet could easily be redirected by a sorcerer, so a gun was, at best, ineffective, at worst, a detrimental mistake. Which led to the question: why did Raine need a gun when it was useless? He kept quiet though and slipped the pistol inside his bag. Irideis knew much more than he did, so it was better to just take their advice for now.

  “And one last thing, if you don’t mind. I’m a bit curious: Who is Nikolay to you?”

  A short question, but one that Raine couldn’t immediately find an answer to. Not just who Nikolay was, but what he meant to Raine.

  Nikolay was a part of him, in a sense. When he was away from Nikolay, it felt like a piece of him was missing, and a sense of incurable longing lingered until they were together again. Perhaps it was because they’d witnessed each other almost die, or maybe it was something else.

  Sure, they would fight, argue, bicker, but ultimately, Raine would rather lose a physical part of himself than to lose Nikolay. Unlike Lysandra, if it had been Nikolay in Cryzari’s place, Raine would’ve selfishly chosen Nikolay any day. He would sacrifice everything for Nikolay, because everything would mean nothing without him.

  To put it eloquently…

  “Nikolay is someone I would count to infinity for.”

  Irideis nodded, as though there was a right answer to their question. Their face was solemn and completely unlike their usual teasing manner.

  “Keep it in mind. Then, I’ll be saying my goodbyes too. We’ll never meet again, but as long as you remember that answer, you won’t need my guidance.”

  Raine opened his mouth to reciprocate the farewell, but the white-haired fox had already disappeared into the sea of people at the docks.

  Now that he was left alone, there was nothing stopping him from joining Nikolay and Navi by her ship. He briskly made his way over to them, waving when he approached.

  “Hey, sorry for the delay. I’m back now.”

  “Where’s Irideis? They were with us just a moment ago,” Navi asked.

  “They already left.”

  “They didn’t come to say goodbye? What a shame.”

  “Good riddance,” Nikolay muttered under his breath.

  Raine looked over at him. “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”