I sat atop the sleigh, Stormy perched on my shoulder, the vast expanse of the North Sea shimmering beneath another small isle that we currently inhabited. The cold wind whipped through my red hair, carrying the scent of salt. As I gazed out at the horizon, my mind wandered back over the whirlwind of events that had brought me to this point.

  It felt like a lifetime ago that I'd awakened beneath the ice of Glinka, confused and disoriented.

  In the span of two months, I'd gone from a bewildered Robinson Cruso in a strange land of Nordic cultivators to... well, whatever I was now. A witch? A scientist? A fusion of both? A bunch of liquid crystals powered by other crystals, effectively pretending to be a seventeen year old Nordstaii teen? A friend of river spirits and talking cats?

  I smiled, scratching Stormy behind the ears. "We've come a long way, haven't we, girl?"

  The black kitten made a “Murrr” noise in response, nuzzling against my neck.

  I thought back to my first week in Svalbard, learning to harness my newfound abilities, crafting remotes and experimenting with the strange magic of this world. It all seemed so simple then - just me, trying to survive in a hostile environment, trying to understand the nature of magic.

  But then came Stormy, Yaga Grandhilda, Cali, Bobliss, Teya, Moonalia... each new encounter adding layers of complexity to my understanding of Thornwild and my place in it. I'd faced down champions, outsmarted a Gygr, and even managed to create a crystalline being that was part river spirit, part Felix, and part Corvix.

  "And let's not forget about you," I murmured to Stormy. "My clever little guide through all this madness. My little kitten radio, a receiver of future signals that I’ve somehow been sending to myself. How does that work anyway?”

  “Brrrr,” Stormy shrugged, which possibly meant ‘hell if I know, I’m a kitten’.

  I sat, lost in thought, Cali emerged from below deck.

  Her arms were laden with an assortment of dead plants I sent her to dig out for me - dried seaweed, brittle driftwood, and withered moss from the shore.

  "Hey, um," she called. "I've gathered everything I could find, but... why do you need all these dead plants?"

  I patted the edge next to me, inviting her to sit. "Come here, Cali. Let me tell you a story.”

  The Felix settled beside me, at a respectable distance, her white tail curling around her legs. The scent of brine clung to her pure white mane, mingling with the air of the ocean.

  "Once," I began, my voice low, "there was a Nordstaii boy named Ioan Starfall. He lived in a village called Svalbard, near the river Glinka. One day a dragon ate all of his kin and he fell under a river wishing for power.”

  "I know that part," Cali squinted at me. "Where is this going?"

  I smiled, picking up a piece of driftwood. "Ah, you see, this story goes back much further than you might think. To Earth.”

  “Earth?” Cali squinted at me.

  I took a deep breath. "Earth was... different. Bigger. More crowded. We had cities that stretched as far as the eye could see, towers that scraped the sky."

  "Bigger than Iridium?"

  "Much bigger. And we had machines, Cali. Automatons that could think."

  "Like... like Cantigeists?" she asked, leaning in closer.

  I shook my head. "Not quite. These were... different. We called them computers, and later, artificial intelligence. They started small, solving simple problems. But we kept pushing, kept improving them and taught them everything we knew."

  Cali's tail swished back and forth. "And?"

  I picked up a piece of dried seaweed, turning it over in my hands to examine it. "We thought we could change the world with these machines. Make it better. Solve all our problems."

  "Did it work?" Cali asked.

  “Seems like it did,” I met her gaze, seeing the eagerness in her ocean-blue eyes. "It... changed things. But not always in the ways we expected. We created wonders, yes, but also new problems.”

  “Problems like?” Cali asked.

  I pointed at the monstrous, infinite world hanging above us in the pale morning sky.

  "From what I can deduce," I said, "Endalaus is likely the result of a runaway effect of artificial intelligence we made."

  Cali's ears twitched "What?"

  "Imagine an artifact, Cali. A tool designed to fulfill all human desires, to make our lives better. But this machine keeps growing, keeps improving itself, faster than we can comprehend, faster than anyone could stop it."

  I picked up a handful of dirt from beside me, letting it crumble between my fingers. "It starts small, like this. But it grows exponentially, consuming resources, reshaping reality itself to better serve its purpose."

  The wind picked up, carrying the dust of the dust away. I watched it disappear into the vast ocean below us. "Eventually, it becomes... that," I said, pointing at Endalaus. "A world-sized artifact, endlessly expanding, trying to grant every possible wish, every conceivable desire."

  Cali's eyes widened. "But... how? Why?"

  I sighed, feeling the weight of this revelation. "Because we told it to, Cali. Because we wanted to master all of the things around us. Because an infinite growth curve isn’t something that can be easily understood or halted. I guess that in our quest for power we managed to mess something up, creating a self-replicating engine.”

  The Felix gulped.

  “You know things about Endaluas then?” She asked. “Secret things? Are you from there or are you not? How can you read the words of the Sky Gods?”

  “I’m from Earth,” I shook my head. “From a time when something like Endalaus was just an idea that was being considered and developed by my people.”

  “How is that even possible?” Cali demanded. "How can you be from that long ago?"

  “Because of a river,” I pointed at the delta of River Glinka glittering in the distance.

  “What?”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “One hundred thousand years ago, this frozen wasteland was green and yellow steppes,” I said.

  “Huh? You… were you there?” Cali asked. "You remember it?"

  “I was not,” I shook my head. “But a girl named Karpathy Galateya had been.”

  “Before Arcanicx?” She asked.

  "Long before the Arcanicx, yes," I nodded. "Before the Wormwood Star fell from the sky. Before the Nordstaii came here chased by the glaciers. This is also the story of how humanity first came to Thornwild."

  “Humanity came here?” Cali tilted her head at me.

  I gestured to the morning sky above us, where countless violet stars twinkled. "Imagine, if you will, great ships sailing not on water, but through the vast emptiness between worlds. These ships carried the last remnants of humanity from a dying planet called Werth."

  "Why was it dying?” Cali asked.

  “They were fleeing the void-storms caused by Endalaus.”

  I picked up a withered flower, twirling it between my fingers. "One of the grandkids of these pioneers was a young girl named Karpathy Galateya. Galateya grew up in a world very different from the one we currently inhabit. The land was warmer then.... but it wasn't without its dangers."

  Cali nodded.

  "One night, Galateya was attacked by a group of hostile humans - the Sarcaxians. In her panic, she swallowed a strange crystal her grandfather had given her for safekeeping."

  "A crystal?" Cali's ears twitched. "Was it a Star Shard?"

  I shook my head. "No, something far older. A Chronacist - a relic from Werth that could store vast amounts of information and... human consciousness."

  The Felix squinted at me.

  "You’re made entirely from these Chronacist crystals now, Cali. It's what allows you and Teya and Mooni to exist in the same body.”

  “I still can’t believe that’s a thing,” Cali muttered. “That you can just… turn me off with a switch, like I’m just an artifact.”

  “It’s not ideal,” I shrugged. “But that’s what we used to save you, Mooni and Teya.”

  Stormy hopped from my shoulder to Cali's lap, purring loudly as she settled in.

  "Ioan," she said softly, "this is all interesting, weird, and terrifying, but... I want to know more about you. The real you. Not just the history of everything everywhere.”

  “Me?” I asked. “Why me?”

  “Because I don’t care that much about the big picture,” Cali said. “I just want to know you.”

  “Because you want to ‘Champion’ me?” I asked.

  "It's... it's not just about finding any Champion," she said, fidgeting with the hem of her Nordstaii sweater. "We Felix, we're drawn to power. And you?" She looked up at me, a blush coloring her cheeks. "You’re… power.”

  “I’m not a hero though,” I shrugged. “I’m a witch. After I broke through the river ice I was offered to be a Champion by Yaga Granhilda, but I convinced her to make me into a… witch.”

  “A witch,” Cali mulled. “You're the only male witch on all of Thornwild then.”

  “There might be others,” I shrugged.

  “I don’t know of any others,” Cali pointed out. “Do you have any idea how astronomical your value is to me?"

  I raised an eyebrow.

  "It's like... imagine you're starving… all the time and you find the most delicious meal in existence. That's what you are to me," she explained, her tail twitching. "But it's more than that. We're not just hungry for a Champion to be at our side. It's about strengthening our families, our bloodlines."

  She paused, gathering her thoughts. "When we bring a new Champion home, it's like... introducing new magic into our family. We want to create stronger, more unique Felix Arcanix. And you, Ioan? The things you could bring to my family..." She trailed off, her eyes glazing over slightly.

  "So I'm just a prized breeding stallion to you? Or a tasty meal?”

  Cali's ears flattened against her head. "No! I mean, yes, but... it's more than that. We Felix, we're planners, hunters. We need our Champions to be our strength, our hands. The more talented our mate is, the longer we stay young and capable."

  She reached out, hesitantly, sliding even closer. "It's a partnership, Ioan. We're the brains, and Champions are the hands. We can't function without each other. And when we bond... It's like our Champions become an extension of ourselves. We love our mates, truly and deeply."

  I looked at her hand that slid onto my leg, then back to her face. "And the harder I resist..."

  "The more I want you," she finished, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's like you're this impossible puzzle I can't solve, and every time you push me away, I just want to try harder to figure out how to make you stay at my side."

  I sighed. "Cali, I-"

  "I know, I know," she interrupted, her ears drooping. "You're not just some prize to be won. But Ioan, can't you see? This isn't just about what you can do for me or my family. It's about what we could be together. The amazing things we could accomplish, you and me! The change we could bring to all Arcanicx!”

  "You paint quite a picture, Cali. But you have to understand, I’ll never give up my freedom or my identity, to be someone's... hand."

  Cali nodded, her expression softening. "I understand. And I promise, I'm trying to fight against my instincts. It's just... really, really freaking hard. You're unlike anyone I've ever met, Ioan. And the more I get to know you, the more I want to be by your side, Champion or not."

  Silver-blue threads stretched out from her Aura to mine as she leaned onto my shoulder, dancing across my entire body. I squinted at them through the lenses of my Astralscope goggles as they attempted to paint the girl sitting next to me as the most beautiful and precious being in the universe, my one true love that I had to worship and obey.

  “Do you mind?” I asked.

  “Sorry,” she exhaled.

  She closed her eyes, trembling ever so slightly and slowly breathing in and out. The threads readjusted their dance portraying her in my mind's eye as a fluffy, white, absurdly cute kitten with oversized ocean-blue eyes. The threads demanded love, pets and obedience.

  “Pfff,” I exhaled.

  "What's so funny?" Cali asked, her real ears twitching.

  “Marginally better,” I commented. “Why a kitten?”

  “I don’t know,” she squeaked. “Just trying something different!”

  “Maybe try something else,” I suggested.

  “Like what?”

  “How about… a fish?”

  “I am not a fish!” Cali huffed. “How can I even picture myself as a fish?!”

  "Come on, give it a try. You might surprise yourself,” I encouraged. “I feel like you’re not optimizing what you have, treading the same old path.”

  “I’m not a freaking Corvix,” Cali pointed out. The kitten fell apart into the same old ‘worship me because I’m beautiful, amazing and perfect’ allure massage pounding into my head.

  “But what if you could be?” I asked her.

  “What?” Cali blinked at me.

  “I can make you… partially Mooni,” I said, showing her the remote responsible for Mooni. “I think that I can make a small percentage of you Mooni, see if that helps you control your allure.”

  "You can do that? Just... change who I am… partially?"

  “We can always switch it back if you don't like it."

  She hesitated for a moment, then squared her shoulders. "Okay. Let's try it."

  I adjusted the dial on the remote, just a tiny bit. There was a subtle shift in the air around Cali, like a change in pressure. The Felix blinked rapidly, shaking her head as if to clear it.

  "How do you feel?" I asked, leaning in to examine her closely.

  “Huh,” She blinked. “It’s… it's like… I have a tiniest bit more control over my thoughts… I think.”

  She huffed but closed her eyes in concentration. I watched through my Astralscope as her silver-blue threads danced and twisted, trying to form a new allure concept. At first, they just created a blob with fins in my head.

  "Is it working?" Cali asked, opening one eye.

  "Keep going," I encouraged.

  The blob slowly elongated, gaining more defined features. Suddenly, I found myself mentally picturing a silver-blue thread version of... a curvy mermaid?

  "Well, that's certainly fishy.”

  Cali's cheeks flushed pink. "It's harder than it looks, okay?"

  "Let's try something else. How about... a tree?"

  Cali's brow furrowed as she concentrated again. This time, her threads formed a shape that looked more like a giant broccoli with a kitten face that demanded worship.

  I snickered.

  “Argh,” Cali panted. “This is hard and I’m getting a migraine.”

  “More Mooniness then?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Cali nodded.

  I cranked the Corvix-summoning remote dial to 2%.