‘I’ll take it,’ Elluvian said, taking control of his body, causing him to straighten up and look towards the small approaching group of fur-covered people.

  “Greetings,” he said, bowing his head. “I was just passing by and found these delicious pine tips. Who might you be?”

  “We’re in charge around here. Where did you come from?”

  “I’m new to the island. I came here from the swamp. I’m E- Dev by the way,” Elluvian said, nearly fumbling the name.

  Elluvian walked them toward the other group, and as he did, Dev noticed that he had a peculiar style of walking, almost pausing midway through each step as if to decide where to step next.

  “You know a way off the island?” the apparent group leader, a burly teenage boy, asked, seeming astonished.

  ‘What’s that about?’ Dev questioned. ‘Have any of you noticed anything strange with the island?’

  ‘I haven’t seen anything,’ Tae said.

  “I just got on the island,” Elluvian said to the man. “The edge is right there.” He pointed back the way they came.

  “Thank you!” The man said, moving to run past them with his group.

  “Wait!” Tae said, taking over suddenly. “Why did you need direction?”

  ‘You could have just asked me to ask him,’ Elluvian said as he reclaimed control, sounding miffed.

  The leader paused, then waved his group on while hanging back. “This entire island is covered in illusion magic. It’s nearly impossible to navigate. I had no idea we were next to the edge. Now we can make our way off.”

  ‘Illusions? This couldn’t be connected to the dreaming prince, could it?’ Justin asked.

  ‘I doubt it,’ Dev said. ‘There’s got to be plenty of illusions that aren’t connected to him.’

  “Are the illusions constant? I haven’t seen anything.”

  “No,” the teenager said. “They come in waves. I’d recommend being careful to track where you are.”

  “One last thing,” Elluvian said, seeming to notice the teenager’s antsiness. “Where did you get the furs?”

  The teenager smiled proudly. “We hunted them. There are plenty of animals around, and while it’s not the cleanest of work, it certainly get’s the job done. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to catch up with the group.”

  He ran off.

  ‘We never even got anyone’s name.’ Justin said, disappointed, as Dev crunched down on another spruce tip. These were much better than he'd expected.

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ Dev said. ‘Everyone keep an eye out for illusions. Elluvian, do you mind explaining what you said earlier, about your blueprint not being a good fit?’

  While he waited for Elluvian to answer, Dev started steering them around. They may as well do a little scouting, even if it looked like they might be joining the group they had met on their way out.

  After the long pause, Elluvian answered. ‘The technique I inherited from my family focuses primarily on plant control. That was one of the major sources of power for our kingdom, being able to guarantee a plentiful harvest and protect ourselves wherever there is life.

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  ‘Makes sense,’ Dev said.

  ‘But I feel that such a restricted path wouldn’t be a good fit as an individual. Whatever we use, it should probably have healing capabilities built in as well.’

  ‘That will slow us down,’ Justin pointed out.

  ‘But I think it will benefit us in the long run,’ Elluvian answered. ‘Look, I’ll consider it, but we have enough time that we can look around for the best option.’

  Just then, Dev detected a sheet of shimmering essence rippling towards them. ‘Watch out. I think I just spotted the illusion effects. Which direction was the edge?’

  Dev felt his hand lift by itself, pointing in what he thought was the right direction. He memorized that direction, but kept an eye on the sheet of essence. He wanted to know how it was messing with things.

  As it overcame them, Dev was underwhelmed. Looking around, nothing seemed different. That changed when he looked up. Far above, the clouds had changed their direction, and the moons and sun were now in different positions in the sky.

  ‘Did anything other than the sky change?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing in the proximity.’ Elluvian said.

  ‘Let’s start making our way back to the edge of the island. I don’t want us to get lost.’

  Dec turned them around and walked in the direction that one of the others had pointed out earlier. After a quarter of a mile, he paused.

  ‘Are you sure this was the correct direction? I’m not seeing any sign of the edge.’

  ‘Keep going,’ Justin said. ‘We should only be a short distance away at this point.’

  Dev edged forwards, letting out a sigh of relief after another two hundred feet, when the edge suddenly appeared in front of them.

  ‘That is nefarious.’ Tae said. ‘There’s probably hundreds of people lost on the island because of how it seems to just go on forever. Not to mention how it changes the sky to disorient you.’

  ‘Yeah, I have a feeling that this island is due for some changes after the trials are up.’

  ‘So, we’ve probably got six hours to burn.’ Elluvian said. ‘Do we want to explore the edge of the island?’

  ‘We might as well,’ Tae said. ‘We need to try and find an inheritance for me anyways.’

  ‘Then I suppose we head west,’ Dev decided. ‘Give ourselves an extra margin once the islands converge.’

  Turning to the left, Dev started walking along the edge of the island. He shivered as the snowfall on the island increased. It formed an interesting contrast, as the storm clouds stopped at the edge of the islands, giving way to fully sunny skies.

  Dev tried to keep an eye out for the group that they had directed to the edge but eventually concluded that they must have either gone the other direction or gotten much further ahead than he’d thought.

  As the light waned, everything became illuminated by a greenish glow. Looking back above the islands, he saw there were sheets of ever-shifting green and red light high in the air.

  ‘Woah,’ Justin said, craning his head further back, ‘I only get to see the Aurora once before. These are nearly identical.’

  ‘It’s beautiful.’ Elluvian said, hushed. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

  ‘They normally only show up in the far north.’ Dev said. ‘They must have decided to fake it here for some reason. Justin, you said you’ve seen them before? In person?’

  ‘Yeah. Northern Lights High Adventure Camp. My parents shipped me up to Alaska one summer, when I was fifteen.’

  ‘Alaska?’

  ‘One of the cold, northern areas of Earth. My planet. Over three thousand miles from home. I actually had some spruce tips there. I almost forgot about that.’

  ‘What was it like?’

  ‘Cold, dark. A lot like this place. We went canoeing…’

  He continued telling them about the camp until the edge of the island lit up beside them, at which point they crossed to a dark jungle. His voice remained steady and detached for the whole story.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want anything to do with these more wild heritages?’ Dev asked Elluvian as they set up their tent on the edge of the island. ‘It would seem a shame not to take advantage.’

  ‘I’m just not feeling it. Look… I’ll consider it. But for now, I think we should just wait for the desert, and try to get the Apollo stuff for Justin.’