“Your main goal is to convince Vesperi that a powerful mage will be more useful to the Order than another ambasiath. Most other Kangassks will support you too, I’m sure. They’re good people. And Sainar is their father, he’ll listen to them.”

Pai was sobbing now, all his fears, his doubts, his anger pouring out of him in tears.

“There, there, warrior…” Orion patted him on the back. “It’s okay. I’m on your side too. Let’s go get that obsidian. After that, you’ll be a full-fledged Order’s member, not some child, and your own voice will have some weight as well.”

Back in the common room, Orion, his face grim, his eyes full of smouldering anger, winked at Juel: it is done, we’re good to go.

The looks that the other teammates gave their leader, spoke it all: the peace and trust that they all had achieved during their stay in Firaska were broken again. Juel Hak had failed as a leader in the eyes of Irin, and as a friend and elder in the eyes of the rest of the boys. That would not be easy to rebuild, indeed!

Across the border, even the best maps

Have nothing left to say

A void where stars sleep, flickering,

The Moon’s haven by day.

Across the border, across the border –

The end. Nothing moves on.

Water drains down into darkness,

Earth is sliced off and gone.

Far off, in darkness, shining myriads

of stars hang overhead.

I chose my path, and held to it, when

Across the border it led.

Crossing the border changed me, to them

I grew ugly, a repulsive goon –

Not all at once – in separate stages,

Measured, phased like the Moon.

The days once were when handsome I seemed!

My future filled with hope!

When at my zenith, with the strength I’d dreamed,

I crossed the border

Adult Milian. A canto of “Thorn poem”

The team fell into Pai’s Transvolo like a handful of stones thrown into a cold abyss. Despite all the efforts of Einar Sharlou, his young apprentice’s spell still included passing too close to the alien star.

“The Primal World!” exclaimed Jarmin, pointing at the golden sun, that pulsing ball of light that seemed no bigger than a Liht sphere from here. “Pai, please, let’s get closer, let’s take a look!” the little boy begged.

Nobody doubted Jarmin’s words. Nobody. His discovery shook everyone in the team, even Irin. For the first time in their whole journey, Irin’s teammates saw his face lose its usual twisted, menacing expression; it was almost serene now; there was lively interest, a spark of curiosity, a tinge of daydreaming… In the light of the Primal World’s sun, the little fanatic seemed just a boy his age, someone you would want to be friends with.

The beauty of this star seemed healing. The last argument had left a wide crack in the team’s mutual trust but now it felt like the crack was mended with invisible glue. In the face of the living legend, the young Lifekeepers felt united again.

“I wish I could do what you ask, Jarmin,” said Pai with a longing sadness. “But I’m afraid. Coming close to a star is extremely dangerous and I’m just a newbie. I might kill us all if I try…”

“Too bad…” sighed Jarmin.

“I wonder,” Milian squinted his eyes as an exciting idea came into his head, “whether it’s possible to use Transvolo for interstellar travel. What do you think, Pai?”

“I’ll find out one day,” said Pai Prior with determination. “But later, when I’m a proper mage.”

The stars faded into darkness before their eyes as the young Lifekeepers fell out of the Transvolo void into the real world.

The real world was pitch black, filled with Omnisian stars above and with cold sand below.