A while later, I sat down in the middle of what used to be the main courtyard. Now mostly clean, at least from the main rubble: the larger crystals were shoved away in my attempt to find something.

  Only thing I uncovered was a bunch of other staircases, similarly leading towards the sea. I was sort of hoping to find one with a room intact at the end, or a part of a corridor at least, but nope. Even the one that led underwater was also a dead end, or rather an open end. And I checked.

  There was really nothing out here.

  Mike all this time was mostly quiet and was keeping to himself, that is until I finally gave up and sat down, looking at the sky.

  -So, what now? - he asked, sitting in front of me, looking at me with a blank expression.

  -You’re the one asking me? - I replied, looking down at him. - You wanted to take me here.

  -I wanted to find civilization far away from MIRE. And this was my last idea.

  I glanced at the rubble.

  -Yeah, that’s not really it, now is it…

  -Yeah.

  -...

  -What about you, though?

  -Hmm?

  -I know, we both are… well, not completely sane…

  -Hah. It’s not that bad.

  -Yet. You know what I mean.

  -Sure, sure…

  -You were just following me so far. What do you want to do?

  -Honestly? Not much - I shrugged. - I was always someone who just likes to go with what comes as it is… at least I think so.

  -Heh.

  -Yeah. I mean, there’s nothing here. The idea of returning to society was on my mind, sure, but the longer I thought about it, the more complicated it got.

  -Mmm.

  -I mean, I can always hide my face, my looks. But not really can suppress my own aura. Sure, if we were back in time when magic wasn’t really a thing, I’d be fine. I probably would have problems with some governments, though.

  -Well, that’s how it all… maybe not started, but you know…

  -Yep. Especially when magic is popular. I’d be a problem wherever I went.

  -Yeah… Same with me.

  -Yep. My second idea was to just go somewhere to the forest and hide there. But that’s still problematic… I’d be a walking catastrophe. Either being a mobile leyline, creating overwhelming power wherever I got, or the opposite, just creating deadlands. Sure, first one doesn’t sound like much of a problem, but… What’s that life like?

  -I get you. Doesn’t sound too bad, but after a century or ten, I bet it would take a toll on your mind. Even if you were able to keep the status quo.

  -Someone, somehow, would find you. And then… we repeat all this.

  -If that’s even ended - I pointed out. - For all we know, we might be surprised by another wave of MIRE in a moment.

  Like commanded, we looked towards the first vertical surface we had next to us, expecting for a portal to open, but nothing happened.

  I stifled a chuckle.

  -At least we have peace for now.

  -It’s funny - he pointed out. - After such a long time trying to bust out of here, I still ended up here.

  -Well, at least you’re not jailed. I think.

  -Yeah… Still. That’s not going to last. It’s not like you can just disappear from the world…

  I didn’t answer.

  Disappear, hmm?

  -Well, disappear or not, we still need to confirm how much there is left to do.

  -Left to do?

  -I mean MIRE. We have to deal with them.

  -Right… I mean, they were on their last legs.

  -And we probably should cut those legs off.

  -After all that, you want to go back? - he asked.

  -I made up my mind. I thought you’d be more thrilled.

  -Oh, “thrill” was gone ages ago. I am just annoyed now. And tired.

  -Same.

  -Well, no matter what, we need to find them first.

  -True - I said, standing up. - I have some ideas.

  -What, you want to teleport again? I mean, we have time, but…

  -No. At least not yet.

  -Not yet?

  -We need to do some scouting first.

  -Great idea - he agreed. - But, sorry to say, my network of people is currently a bit…

  -Non-existent?

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  -You can say that.

  -I am aware.

  -There probably are some people with pieces here or there, but you know they aren’t exactly good candidates… Besides, it’s not like I can easily communicate with them.

  -Nah, I had something else in mind.

  -...?

  -Why not use a drone?

  He froze.

  -A drone. And where the hell would you find one? - he chuckled. - It’s not like we have some hardware store here.

  -I am going to make one, of course.

  -Since when you’re…

  -Of course I mean magical drone - I interrupted him, irritated. - Come on.

  -How?

  -Well, it’s not like the first time we’ve tried creating something new - I shrugged. - Be more creative.

  He sighed.

  -Okay. Sure. Drone. And what? How does that help?

  I gave him a concerned look.

  -Look, I get it, you are having an identity crisis. But your brain still works, right?

  -Fuck off.

  -Sorry, but at least try to pretend you care. If you don’t want to help then just leave me to it then.

  -...

  He wasn’t saying anything, so I just shrugged.

  -I suppose I’ll do it alone, then.

  -Right, so what kind of material should I use…? - I mumbled to myself. - Probably… yeah.

  I waved my hand and concentrated on the ground in front of me.

  I intended to make something out of wood. A lightweight piece of tree would be nice and easy to make, and probably wouldn’t use much mana either. It didn’t matter now, but after I’d send it further away… nah, probably wouldn’t matter anyway.

  -Wisfe tehu.

  From the crack in the ground a spike of wood suddenly shot up.

  I didn’t even pour much energy into that, yet it was so quick it actually managed to crack the stone even more.

  It stopped just as it touched my fingers and looked like a large splinter of wood, or maybe a broken board?

  -That might work…

  I touched the wood and started shaping it.

  And by that, I mean literally sculpting it, using my own fingers.

  Since I was made out of crystal, it was easy for me to modify myself just a tiny bit and sharpen my fingers.

  -Manually like that…? - asked Mike, who apparently was observing my movements, despite his earlier disinterest. - You crazy or what?

  -It’s not like I need some elaborate design - I shrugged. - I am not going to sell this, you know? And this is faster.

  I swiped once more at the wood.

  -Done.

  In my hand was… well, essentially just a wooden pyramid, small enough to fit in one’s palm of hand.

  Mike only raised his brew.

  -And how is that going to be useful?

  -Just let me finish.

  -Pff.

  Not caring about his opinion I flipped the piece of wood upside down and shoved my sharpened finger right into the base of it.

  Wood didn’t give me much resistance, of course, so I managed to bury my whole finger.

  -And now the annoying part…

  -What are you…

  I focused and twisted my finger clockwise, at the same time pouring some mana into it.

  Crack.

  -Ow.

  It didn’t really hurt.

  Wasn’t my first time, so it was easy. My finger snapped and was now embedded inside the pyramid, while I was left with one less on my right hand.

  Only for a second, though, because it only took that long for me to reform my hand. While I was at it, I also returned my fingers to regular, from the sharp claws I had just a moment ago.

  -And now… how was that…

  I thought about the flight spell I used a long time ago and thought about implementing it now.

  It was long and cumbersome. Sure, it was back then just an experiment, barely working. If I was to use it now, it would be useless. If I were to modify some things…

  -Geksu.

  I lit up the end of my newly formed finger and started writing on the side of the pyramid.

  I already had the design in mind, but writing it on that small piece of wood was still challenging.

  Mike was sitting there silently since broke my finger. It seemed like he understood that I needed some concentration for this, so he wasn’t interrupting. He definitely was paying attention, though, I could tell.

  About ten minutes later, I was done with the spell.

  -Now, let’s hope it works…

  -How in the hell is that supposed to work? It’s not like…

  -Up.

  I felt a slight breeze in my hand and the piece of wood immediately shot up about a meter high and crashed right back down next to me.

  -Well, it sort of worked… - I said, picking it back up and checking for any cracks in the stone or wood.

  -Sort of!? How the fuck…?!

  He snatched it out of my hand, surprising me.

  -The fuck? First you refuse to help, now you try to stop me? What gives?!

  I was about to snatch it back, with magic if needed, but he wasn't really running away or anything else, he was just quietly studying my writing.

  -What gives? You’ve been watching me make this the entire time.

  -Your writing.

  -Huh?

  -It’s… normal.

  -What? Err…? Thanks…?

  I was unsure what he was talking about.

  Was that supposed to be a compliment or something?

  -It’s in normal language.

  -Again… thanks…?

  -Oh for… Look!

  He shoved my own creation in my own face. Like I’ve not seen it before.

  -Can you not? Yes, it’s normal, what are you talking about?

  -Fucking… You wrote this without any conversions! A plain, regular speaking language! And it works!

  -Oh. Well. I did.

  -...?!

  He was flabbergasted.

  It was weird.

  I mean, I didn’t really plan on doing it, but just did it on a whim. But why was he surprised? He used regular English before to cast spells. Why couldn’t I do the same?

  -You did that before, didn’t you? What makes you think I can’t?

  -I did?!

  I stared at him.

  -Okay, don’t tell me that you’re spacing out that much. Of course you did. I think I even pointed that out to you.

  -I… don’t remember that…

  Damn. I guess it was worse than I thought.

  But it was strange… I wasn’t affected this way. At least not to my knowledge.

  -Huh. Apparently your assimilation is weird.

  -My… Don’t tell me it’s that.

  -And do you have any other explanations? - I asked.

  He didn’t reply.

  And for the first time in a long while, he looked terrified.

  A bit weird. At that point, I thought he’d be used to the idea.

  Then again, I shouldn’t compare him to myself. I was just not normal in that regard.

  -Eh, don’t worry about it. It’s not like we can do something about it - I said, shrugging.

  -...