Todor left Cassandra sleeping as he walked to the kitchen where he grabbed a potion he made a few days back. It allowed him to go without sleep for a few days. He swallowed the concoction which tasted as stale, warm beer. But the effect was noticeable right away. He became more energetic and more aware of every little detail.

He went to the garage and started modifying his railgun with the second orb Irry brought him. The work went faster now when he knew what he was doing. The robust weapon had technology that Todor understood one hundred percent as well which sped up the entire process. Hell, high schooler should understand the mechanics behind railguns. Or maybe not. I shouldn't measure other people from the perspective of the geek, he mused as he closed the casing of the weapon and screwed it back tight. Alright, now to test that tomorrow.

He then moved back to the kitchen and summoned Ezezu. He was eying a potion there that looked promising, and from what he remembered he almost understood cryptic instructions. Why are some potions written clearly, and some are puzzles, eh Ezezu? he asked the book putting the tome on the kitchen counter. His bare feet felt coldness creeping from the ground, which to Todor was quite refreshing after the hot day in the sun trying to meditate. The book sent amusement as a response.

Why can't we talk with each other Ezezu? I heard your words back when I confronted Midnight Breeze. The book stayed silent. Todor sighed and moved his attention to the words written on the page. 'The potion of insight' the title said. Todor's eyes went down to the No Terrors annotation first. Unlike Learning Potion, which power I used for so long with great success, this potion baffled me for so long. It doesn't help you learn faster, but it opens your mind to new possibilities, it makes you more connected to your true self and realizing your true potential. It was the line that mentioned true self that caught Todor's attention to this particular potion. Will this help me learn my True Name, I wonder? his mind wondered as his eyes went over the instructions.

Dew and droplets from a lady love,

from the lips of which we don't speak of.

They must be a fruit of the fierce battle

When a man and lady parts together prattle.

The spice of love, the kiss sublime

Add such nectar to mouths slime.

Pour the water of garments stained

Boiled and cooked for hours on end.

To such stinky soup add a twinkle of rose

As if that will protect your poor nose.

And last but definitely not least

A feather from black and flying beast.

Todor sighed as he looked at the ingredients he collected. Some were easy to obtain with Cassandra's help. Others, which were much more mundane took days. Roses were nowhere to be found in Moriganhold which he had to order from a flower shop to be shipped from other free cities. Thanks to pure luck, he stumbled upon crows feather in the park.

Why are all these ingredients so ... bodily fluids and random animal and plant parts? So gross, he wondered as he held the crow's feather. It was the last thing he needed to add. His saucepan was filled with disgusting water which held underwear and other nasty things. He dropped the feather in the mix. For a second nothing happened and then foam coated the surface of the mixture. Then the foam dissipated leaving behind clear, faintly blue liquid that contained golden flakes. Wow, where did that underwear go? He glared at the potion and then took a shot glass and scooped some of it.

"Well, here goes nothing," he said drinking the unknown mixture. It tasted faintly of mango but other than that nothing happened. Todor waited for an entire minute and went to take another sip when he froze. His entire body couldn't move and a sharp pain exploded in his head. It felt like someone hacked his brain with an ax. He wanted to scream in pain but he couldn't move a muscle.

The world around him shimmered. For a single moment, everything looked like it was made out of pudding and his every breath made it jiggle as if it was a jelly struck by a spoon. The pain in his head dimmed and so did everything else around him. Darkness surrounded him and he started falling into nothingness. He felt shadows moving around him like hounds waking up from their slumber and shaking their chain as their movement disturbed it. They danced around him, as if he was a nucleus of a child's model of an atom, while shadows spin like electrons attracted into his orbit.

Falling sensation stopped without warning. He didn't hit the ground or water. The falling just ceased and he could feel the solid surface beneath him. Todor looked down and saw nothing so he knelt and touched the ground. It felt cracked and dusty. He then remembered that he should be scared of the shadows. He heard them approaching, like a rustle of sheets when you move in bed. I can't see a thing? What happened, first coherent thought assembled itself in his mind like his brain had to learn to think again.

"Stay back," he said loudly, backing off from the sounds that were spinning ever closer. The words echoed through the strange space and shadows froze. His eyes finally got used to the gloom of his surrounding. He saw bleak dry earth, cracked from the lack of moisture. But all he could see was just two steps radius around him. Further, the darkness was complete.

"Where am I?" he asked himself out loud. The words echoed pushing the darkness away, leaving a larger area around Todor. "So, the sound is scaring off this dark stuff around me?" he asked no one particular. As soon as his words spread into the air, the darkness indeed retreated from him.

He started walking to the border made out of darkness. He would utter something and it got pushed back as if running away from his words. Todor walked in one direction for what it seems like hours. The ground was the same, flat dry earth with cracks spread into infinity. But nothing else marred the surrounding. Admittedly he couldn't see very far because after a while it would reclaim the area Todor left.

"Great, I made a disgusting potion, drank it, and I get trapped in the realm of darkness and dry flats for my trouble," he complained sitting on the ground. "All I wanted is to learn my True Name," the words echoed around him as the darkness retreated a bit and then started to shimmer. The low growl came from the black mist ringing in Todor's ears. A moment later a form burst out of the blackness charging right at him.

He jumped at his feet and started running in the opposite direction. The creature was made out of black oily substance and had yellow glowing eyes, running on four powerful limbs. Its jaw was wide and elongated with a raw of tiny sharp teeth that glimmered in its dark purple mouth. Todor yelled as he approached the wall of darkness but now it didn't retreat at his words. He slammed into it, pain blossoming at the point of impact as he rebounded and fell to the ground. Right in front of the charging creature.

"Well, this is just great," he mumbled staring at the wide-open mouth that was rushing for him.

He clenched expecting a bite to tear into his flesh when he felt faint tugging on his mind. He realized it felt like Ezezu but much stronger. It was pulling him somewhere to the left. He rolled on his shoulder and jump on his feet. Sprinting away from the beast he let his leg guide him towards the point Ezezu pulsed in his mind. Running along the wall of darkness he soon saw a small hole in its surface. When he got there he concluded it's more like a tunnel bored into unknown shadowy material. He didn't stop to understand how it got there, he scrammed into an opening, his heart beating fast. A second later creature slammed into the wall of blackness, too large to enter the opening.

He let out a loud sigh of relief when the hallway started moving to create a path upwards. Instead of cracked earth, he started walking along the solidified darkness that spiraled somewhere above him. Todor didn't want to take any chance and wait for the beast to find a way to him. He started walking following the pulsing of Ezezu in his mind like a beacon. At one moment it felt like only a minute has passed, next it felt like an eternity. But at last, he exited the swirling tunnel into the frozen black ocean. Waves were like hills around him, made out of black ink or oil. The hole from which he just walked out of, closed itself behind him.

Ezezu's tugging upon his awareness became more insistent. So Todor started running, dodging the frozen waves as he moved. He broke into a jog once he saw a piece of land that was made out of the dull gray rock. On top of that normal looking hill, that stood out from the rest of the bizarre landscape by its normalness, was a cage. Inside of the cage, he saw someone moving. He realized Ezezu practically screamed with terror as she pulled upon their mental connection. Todor increased his speed, sprinting towards the cage atop the boulder.

He reached the cage after a minute, staring at the person behind the bars.

"You fool. Took you long enough," the woman trapped inside said glaring at Todor. She was young and pretty in a wild sort of way. She wore furs and leathers cut into the rough and primitive design. Her hair was black and matted into dreadlocks that fell down her back. Her gunmetal gray eyes had such intensity that Todor backed off a step.

"Who are you?" Todor asked, creeping realization slowly climbing to his conscious thought.

"I am your bloody book, you waste of human flesh," the girl said grabbing the bars of the cage. "Release me, jailor."

Todor took another step back.

"That might not be a good idea," Todor said remembering the words No Terror said to him. "We might both die. No Terror told me that."

"My father or his memory? Either way, he didn't ask me if I want to live or not," Ezezu said petulantly.

"Do you want to disappear? To die and drag me with you into death?" Todor asked carefully. Is this really Ezezu? The presence I felt had warm feelings and calming demeanor. This wild young woman is not what I pictured.

"I guess not," Ezezu spat. "Damn it, it's hard to lie to someone when he can feel your emotions," she said baring her teeth in a gesture that can be described only as a murder grin.

"Where am I?" Todor asked.

"You don't know?" she laughed harshly. "Of course you don't know. How could you? This is the Realm of Souls, Underworld, The Afterlife."

"Does that mean I am dead?" Todor asked aghast.

"No idiot. You are not here physically, only your mind is here. And even souls pass through here only briefly to go wherever souls go," she said angrily.

"But not you," Todor uttered quietly.

"Not me," she agreed. "I am tethered to the book. And once a person absorbs the book I become tethered to that person's soul. That is why my dad warned you not to let me in. If I expel your soul I get pulled together with you into the nothingness. Or where ever our souls travel when we die."

"So, you will not try to overtake my body?" Todor asked slowly. He shouldn't have asked, he felt the presence of Ezezu in his mind.

"I don't want to go into the dark just yet," she assured him. "Now get me out of here."

"Why are in you there anyway?" he asked examining the lock on her prison.

"It was the only way for my soul to stay put until my father could create maharoon. And to prevent me from disappearing if I and the maharoon host are not compatible."

"Isn't it better for you to stay there, then? If I die you will be gone as well," Todor concluded. "And I am being hunted."

"By a crappy vampire," Ezezu growled. "I hate those beasts. If you let me out you will be able to use my mana pool to open your own mana pore."

"I just wanted to learn my True Name," Todor said looking at the Ezezu.

"And you will learn it by utilizing my power so that you can gain access to your own power," she said with impassioned pounding on the bars with her fists.

Well, what a heck? She is the only one who knows anything. I can feel her honesty in my freaking mind. He deliberated for a second.

"Alright dead book girl," Todor said grabbing the padlock. It looked like steel or iron but once he squeezed it crumbled as if was made of wax.

"Finally. You are alright slavershagger," Ezezu said walking out of the cage.

"Slavershagger?" Todor asked confused.

"You are banging that red slaver woman, aren't you? Don't answer, I know. I am in your mind," she said with a smirk as she turned to take a look at their surrounding.

"I ... Cassandra? She is a Morg. Why would you call her a slaver," Todor stammered confusedly.

"Both orcs and elves are slavers. Maybe these days they can't admit it openly since humans grew teeth of their own," she shrugged. "I don't mind you fucking one though. I would have chosen that blond elf wench with a curly hair though."

"Shut up," he said fighting a smile. "What now?"

"We need to leave these dead lands. Go higher, to a place where people's minds drift when they dream," she said pointing towards the sky. "There everyone's mind left an imprint. We need to find yours when you were just a little lad."

"How? Fly there?" he said scoffing.

"Not flying, but maybe jumping really high?" shesaid seriously. "Hold my hand," she said grabbing him by the arm. Then shejumped up pulling Todor with her as if he was just a balloon without muchweight. They rushed upward crashing through the invisiblebarrier and falling into the grass field.