When the portal closed behind us, my insides felt as if they'd been inside a milk shaker.

It felt amazing and I couldn't wait to do that again every time we had to move.

No, actually, scratch that. I was kidding.

Ever since the Awakened had mentioned the New Faith, Raegan's eyes were grey and cloudy with worry.

I wanted to ask her what she thought about what the Awakened had told us about Set, but none of my friends were approaching the topic, so I didn't either.

After a while, I cleared my throat. "Thoughts?"

Edgar looked around. We weren't in the forest anymore, but in a place that looked more like an oasis. "Yes," he said. "Do you know any Mudras for cleaning clothes?"

"Sorry?"

"You wet your trousers, back in the Blasted Tower."

"I do have a thought," Jeff said. "Considering that the second clue we had was the image of the Arcane in the fire painting, and it was the High Priest. The name for the leader of the New Faith. So, there must be a correlation. Let's look for a temple."

"What has the New Faith got to do with KI anyway?" Raegan asked.

"The questions are infinite, the answers limited," Jeff replied.

We walked up and down the beach, until we found a Temple in the waters. There were marble steps, so one could enter without being wet. Speaking of, I didn't know a Mudra to get oneself dry. I would need a change of clothes. I started off by taking off my trousers.

"What — are — you — doing?" Edgar hissed through his teeth.

"Don't worry," I said. "My underpants aren't the least bit enticing. And at least now you won't complain."

"How do you know words like enticing, anyway?"

"I thought we already established that I could read."

In the meantime, our friends had already walked into the Temple. It did remind me of the New Faith, in the way that this one too was white and it had a Greek architecture.

This one was huge as well, and the light seemed to pour in from everywhere.

There was a woman praying, inside. It struck me as bizzarre, but she'd heard us coming, and she hadn't threatened us yet, which was would be a first for the enemies we'd met so far.

I approached the woman, trying to act braver than I felt. "Who are you?"

Thankfully, she smiled at me. She was in her mid-thirties, perhaps early fourties, and she had dark skin and long black hair, braided with coloured extensions.

"The Awakened sent me to help with your quest," she replied. "But I am not one of them. I've changed things a bit around here. You could call it... spice things up."

She made a gesture, like a Mudra, and something appeared out of nowhere. It was an altar, a different one from the one where she was kneeling.

"This altar," Edgar joined us from the other side of the room. "Look at this. There's sage, and this kind of black powder... I've read about it. It seems those ingredients are here to establish contact with the dead."

That said, Edgar snorted the black powder and used fire from a torch to light the sage on fire.

"What is he doing...?" Jeff asked.

"I've always thought he was weird," Raegan shrugged. "But after all, aren't we all?"

"Those are indeed items to contact the dead," the woman smiled. "But I don't want you to be the one to use them, Edgar Wollstonecraft. Raegan McIntosh, inhale the black powder. You're the one I want to help the most."

I figured Raegan would put up a fight but she didn't. Some kind of mist appeared in front of her, and if one narrowed their eyes, one could almost see the outlines of a face blurring into it.

"How do you have this kind of power?" Jeff asked the woman in the meantime.

"I am Eingana," she said. "The god of the elements. But calling forth the spirits of the dead is in my power, as it is in the power of all the gods."

I wished I could have shown her the praise she deserved, but after finding out my second cousin and black magic teacher had hosted the powers of a god for himself, it made me wonder who Eingana really was.

"Oh, unlikely group of heroes," the spirit finally commented in a gravelly voice. "I don't want my death to be in vain."

"Well, I don't want my life to be in vain," I replied, tired and angry. "So you better give us a helping hand, unlike everyone else."

"You'll never leave KI alive either way," the spirit said. I was almost sure his voice was a masculine, accentless one. Also, he was the second person to speak those words to us.

"S-spirit," Raegan stammered, which was very unlike her. "Do you reply to the name of Fletcher McIntosh?"

Of course. Though the voice was altered, Raegan would recognize her father's voice anywhere. And the signs were everywhere — the New Faith, the accentless voice... I knew the man was raised by a Scottish and Dutch parent.

"I do," the spirit said, in fact.

"But I am your daughter," Raegan's voice faltered again. "Why wouldn't you help me?"

"Well, why are you here, in a suicidal mission? Why do you keep disappointing me? You were supposed to have a normal life."

"Nobody could have had a normal life, dad. The Enchanters are at war now. And I'd like to avenge your death. And mom's."

"Ah, daughter. Vengeance is a bad thing. Forgiving is the way. I forgave you for not being a good daughter."

Raegan looked worse than I'd ever seen her. Worse than when the Blasted Tower had wounded her arm.

"But you're dead," I told Fletcher. "Help us and you'll go to Heaven. Or at least, I think so... or do you like being dead?"

I thought I had crossed the line. I was wrong.

"To be honest, yeah. I like it," Fletcher said. "I've never felt better. If you're not suitable as the heroes of this quest, I won't pass over to the other side before I figure out who else is more fitting. Maybe they could send four boys, the next time."

"But why is your spirit even here, dad?" Raegan was confused. "Why could Eingana ever think you would come to my help, of all people...."

She never finished the sentence. We all heard the only sound we wouldn't want to hear.

Footsteps behind us.

"Lower your arms," a voice behind us warned. "I haven't forgiven you for standing me up the other day."

"Lower your arms I said," Jake repeated. "And no one will get hurt. Yet. Set wants to kill you personally. So don't get in our way, and everything will be fine."

"How are you here?" I asked, turning around. "Is this because you've been spying on us?"

"You got it all wrong," Jake said. "Set has always known about KI. Don't you think someone with that name knows the realm the legends are from? But for years we couldn't find an Aeon who would help us finish the spell."

"Well, what about Vitaly Malinov?" Raegan asked.

"Vitaly Malinov? Oh wait. You mean Jophiel? Two different people, as personality goes.Vitaly was all about peace and love, he would have never betrayed his friends."

Jake seemed to think about it for a while.

"What? You're surprised I know about him? Well, I don't know what you've been told, but my side doesn't keep secrets. Vitaly Malinov... what a strange person. Weird looking as a man, and gorgeous looking as a woman."

He almost choked while laughing at this disgusting joke.

"Of course, he helped the others when he could," Jake added. "But never as far as that. Not even after multiple tortures, though Set insisted he wasn't to be hurt too much. Vitaly had an invaluable mind, he said. That is why he was Ductor."

I was sickened to see Jake was wearing his hood, and it was the first time I noticed their dark clothes were similar to the ones Roman Senators used to wear except for the hood. It wasn't meant to conceal their identity, I realised, but to distract from their terrible, distorted faces.

Jake, thankfully, didn't have the face of a Typhon yet. But it could only be a matter of time.

Then, I noticed something that made me feel even sicker. Alice was there, but she was trembling a few steps behind him. I'd never seen her look that helpless.

"Jake..." she muttered. "What are you saying? You told me we would help them. Who are those people you're talking about? And Vitaly Malinov... he's not dead?"

"If you want to fight your way to the Mirror, just do it," I snarled at Jake. Being faced with him, I should have been scared. But I wasn't. He was simply Jake, and we'd learned black magic, too. All of us had been taught by the Reapers, but, while it seemed he knew all of their secrets, we had the best of them as a teacher.

Raegan moved her fingers carefully and slowly in a Mudra. She must have taken Jake by surprise, because all of a sudden he found himself tied to the altar, with robust ropes made of ice tieing him down.

"What are we going to do with him now?" Jeff asked.

"What else are we supposed to do? Let him get to the Mirror? Have you heard Vitaly? It was the Reapers who killed our parents, Jeff! And Jake is taking the side of those monsters."

"Maybe that guy should get the Mirror," Fletcher commented. "It could be what the gods want. It's impossible to know Their plans."

I doubted very much that the gods, or whomever else was in charge, could wish for something like that.

Unless the god we were talking about was Set.

"I know you don't trust me right now," Alice said weakly. "But I heard your previous conversation with the ghost. I think he's supposed to give you some kind of hint."

"His advice is probably to ask the gods for advice," Raegan huffed. 

If this jab was meant to be heard by the spirit, it went to waste. Fletcher didn't comment, and was uncharacteristically silent.

"Back at the Academy, we had a Staub Doll. You have to take a piece of this doll with you when you go, and the people at school will keep the doll safe with them. The doll will show them on its body your emotions and what happens to you. This way, they'll always know if you're in trouble," Jeff whispered. "I took a piece of it before we left, on Feast Day. The first time we left, all I could think about was that we might need it."

"Jeff, you genius!" I commented.

"I hope you took the eyes!" Raegan exclaimed, excited.

"No," Jeff glared at her. "I used the scissors, and gently cut a piece of her dress."

"So, what should we do?" Raegan asked. "They have already seen a lot of things happening to us and they didn't care. Or maybe, it doesn't work between realms! What do we have to do to get them to help us? Eat the piece of cloth?"

Jeff and I were clearly wondering whether what happened to the doll would also happen to us, while Raegan apparently didn't care.

I took the cloth from Jeff's hands before Raegan could grab it and eat it.

"Can someone materialise a pen?" I asked. Jeff got me one.

I took the piece of cloth and wrote, 'Set. Is there a myth with a beachTemple? Quick.'

"They can't reach us," I explained. "But they can help us."

I flinched when Jake appeared behind us and took the cloth from my hands. He'd broken free from his bonds. "What do you think you're doing, losers?" he asked. "I was keeping you alive to help me find a hint, but I could kill you just as easily."

Luckily, the words I'd written should reflect on the doll's dress even with the piece of cloth all crumpled up in Jake's hand.

"The losers are closer to finding the hint than you think," I replied.

Jake looked at the piece of fabric. "Just because you talked to one of our friends..."

"Well, I didn't talk," I said. "I wrote. I can't believe I ever thought you were clever --- I always recognise the idiots. You know, just a feeling I get from faces sometimes."

Jake grabbed my collar and wrapped his hands around my throat. "What have you done? I've been so stupid! Why didn't I realise you were the one I had to be on the lookout for?"

I knew why he really said it. He said it to remind me that whatever I did, wherever I went, I didn't fit in. Back in the Human Realm, everyone knew I was not a human. Here, I was just like a human to people like him.

Before I could react, Jake let me go. I tried to reach for his hand, and he slapped me. I fell to the ground with a thud.

My friends hurried up, but Edgar was faster. He helped me up. "What are you doing? You're hurt."

"When they reply," I said, my voice really hoarse. "It will appear on that piece of fabric. I need it back!"

"It's official now, Ryan," Raegan said. "You're really crazier than me."

At that moment, Jake opened his hand and took a look at what was written inside. He started laughing, satisfied, which made me think he got the answer we were looking for.

"Of course," I couldn't help but wince. "Of course they would reply when Jake had the piece of fabric. I'm so stupid."

Under the scrutiny of my friends' horrified expression, I sobbed until I laughed a little.

"Why are you laughing?" Jake asked. "Stop acting crazy."

I was laughing because he didn't know just how good I was at mind-reading. And I'd read from his mind what Sean had written.

"Sean wrote 'sword'," I said.

"Ryan, lookout!" Edgar warned. But it was too late. I felt a piercing sound and a prickling feeling in my stomach. Then the feeling turned into the greatest pain I've ever felt for about a split second, and then my entire body went numb.

When I looked down, I saw that Jake had stabbed me in the stomach with the sword.

"It was near the altar," he said. "I suppose this might be what we have to do. A sacrifice. Isn't there a story where Tyr sacrifices the blood of his enemies on an altar?"

"I've never read it," Raegan said. "The myths are not supposed to be like that."

"The most famous one is about the two brothers wanting to kill each other," Jake replied. With a swift movement, he took out the sword, and the pain came back, and doubled.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't scared of dying. But I didn't want to go like that.

In those feverish moments, all I could think about was that I'd said time and time I was going to save the world, while the truth was that I was barely good enough at die trying.

"Quick," I heard Edgar's voice. "The ampoule that cures every wound."

"But we were keeping it for special occasions," Raegan replied.

"This is a special occasion," Edgar said firmly.

Jeff took from the pocket of his jean jacket the ampoule with the dark fluid inside it and poured it on my wound.

At first, it didn't hurt. I was still numb. After a while, the medication started to hurt and it was like half of my body had caught fire — I couldn't help but scream.

The wound closed, but I still felt like I had a fever, and my stomach still hurt, though a lot less. In the meantime, I noticed Alice had knelt closer to me, a worried look on her face.

"Did you really... not know any of this?" I asked.

"She seems sincere," Jeff replied. "And she didn't help Jake, not even when he needed it."

"Speaking of which," he added with a bitter grin. "The goddess took care of him."

Jake was lying on the altar now, but he wasn't dead. He was tied up, like before, and there was an ugly gash on his hand with blood trickling from it. I tried not to feel too much pity for him.

"Even though it wouldn't be my choice," the spirit said. "You poured the blood of Jake onto my altar. This makes you eligible to get the next clue."

"Father," Raegan sounded exhausted. "I'm saving the world. What more do you want from me?"

"You could have become the next High Priest of the New Faith. I would have loved you so much for this."

"You've never loved me at all!" Raegan almost yelled.

Fletcher didn't know what to say for quite some time.

"You're wrong," he finally said. "I was, and I still am, a terrible father. I did bad things to you. I've never understood you. But I loved you. I didn't know how to show my love to your mother and to you, but..."

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry you never knew it before. But I wish I could show you how much I love you now. There is something you deserve to know."

That said, the spirit made the altar shake. Something came out of the slot in the middle of the altar — a letter. Raegan took it, but waited to read it.

"Is this from you?" she asked weakly.

"Even better. This was written by Sean, your best friend, and I hope it will make you understand things about him and about what this quest was really about. I have a secret for you — we were not so different, you and I. Before I died, I had many regrets, and I ultimately decided to save the world too. This is why the goddess decided to call on me."

"I don't know if I'm ready to let you go, dad," Raegan said, holding back tears.

The spirit became a stormy cloud, enveloping Raegan in what I thought was supposed to be a hug.

"The letter," Jeff prompted Raegan when Fletcher disappeared.

"Wait a minute," I said. "I didn't know Sean was your best friend."

I didn't even know the both of them were friends. I didn't think I'd seen them interacting at all.

Raegan's stormy eyes said there was a reason behind the two of them drifting apart. "He used to be. We very nearly grew up together, much like Risa and you."

She opened the letter and read it.

"Dear diary,

Raegan is the biggest fan of your stories. I love them too, but once, when she asked me to gather from the library all the mythology books I could find, I found one, the Ice Palace, that I kept hidden from her.

I do not blame Raegan for her thirst for vengeance. It's not a lack in her, to want to kill Set for what he's done to her parents. It's justice she seeks, not destruction. But I am there for the worst of it. The nightmares, the screams in her sleep. And I do not wish to obsess her further.

So when I found the fairytale of the Golden Sword I kept it to myself. Tyr uses the sword to kill his enemies in cold blood and sacrifices them on his altar — considering how Raegan resents temples, I was afraid this story would hurt her. Show her the connection between her fights and her father's ignorant and bigoted but heartfelt fights for a better world.

Raegan is much better than her parents were ever going to be. But I decided to keep this story to myself, and it became my favourite. I imagine myself wielding a sword and killing Raegan's enemies, so she doesn't have to. Because her parents never protected her, but I still can."

"Other than sticking your noses in my family business," Raegan said with a bittersweet grin. "Whatever else have we learnt?"

"The Ice Palace," I said. "Edgar..." I tossed him the map. "Portal us to the Ice Palace."