ADRIAN AWOKE TO sunlight streaming into the cabin, slicing through his sleep and dragging him back to the present. Groggy, he blinked, squinting at the bare walls.
The light was bright, unfiltered, pouring through the gaps in the cabin's shoddy walls. He groaned, his body stiff and sore as the memories of last night rushed back, the desperate fight, the blinding light that saved him, the lightning...
He tossed the blankets aside and glanced down, fingers trailing over his stomach. Nothing - no mark, no scar. Only pale, unbroken skin. He would have doubted his memories if he weren't still in this cabin, the smoky scent of burnt wood lingering as proof of the clash.
I've always healed fast, but overnight? he wondered, a chill creeping in. He could never explain this if Jax or Thorne had witnessed it.
But Jax was taken, and Thorne... Thorne was dead.
His gaze shifted, catching sight of the bag of gold on the floor - no, not just gold. Rubies and crystals, wealth fit for a king. Wealth his friends had died for, wealth he had almost died for.
I fought a mage... and lived, he thought, the disbelief still raw. Before he could dwell, a sharp, familiar voice cut in.
- "Wizard, not mage. And a class 9, at that, so I don't see why you're so impressed with yourself." - the voice said, crisp and dry.
Adrian jerked up, heart pounding. "Daevera?" he muttered out loud, startled.
How… I threw the figurine away. You shouldn't be here.
He wrapped himself with the blanket, feeling very self-conscious about having a woman inside his head while he was naked, then he rushed to retrieve his discarded clothing.
As he dressed up, he did his best to avoid giving her a show of his nakedness, but to his annoyance, he heard her chuckling at his attempts.
- "Bonding doesn't work that way," - Daevera replied when he was done, with an amused edge. - "Once we're connected, I'm bound to you, master." -
Adrian tensed. Master? Did she just -
"Look, I don't want to be your master. Can you just go away? You're in my head, you're reading my thoughts, and it's very uncomfortable!" Adrian yelled out in frustration.
For the life of him, he couldn't fathom having someone in his head who knew all his secrets, past, and shared his every thoughts as they came in.
- "Relax. For now, I can only hear what you're actively thinking. Until you fully accept the bond, I won't have access to your memories or past," -
"Sure, but that's only one of my concerns. What if more of Valtak's kind come looking for you? I can barely protect myself as it is."
- "That's impossible, so long as you don't tell anyone about us, we'll be the only ones who know you have me, and you'll be safe." -
Adrian felt his shoulders relax. It wasn't ideal, but he could live with it.
For now.
Especially since the wizard had mentioned that the only way to break the bond was to die, and he didn't feel like dying. "Fine, but don't expect me to like it," he muttered.
"Oh, believe me, I didn't." She gave a mental chuckle that annoyed him. He was concerned about real implications, and she was enjoying herself at his expense.
Adrian noticed the figurine, somehow back on the small table by the cabin door, pristine and innocuous. He glared at it. The same carved figure he'd cast away into the night now sat as if it had never left.
- "So," - Daevera continued, a bit too casually, - "what are you planning to do with your cabin?" -
Adrian frowned. "What do you mean? It's not mine."
- "Actually, it is. You killed the wizard. By right of conquest, the cabin, and everything in it, belongs to you now." -
He raised an eyebrow. "You mean everything?"
- "Everything." - Daevera repeated.
It sank in slowly, and he laughed out loud. From dirt-poor to rich, and now, a cabin with magic woven into its walls?
Last night, I was nobody. Today... well, I'm still nobody, but with some luck.
He turned, taking in the space. He couldn't find the spot the wizard had blasted last night while trying to kill him.
It self repaired? It really is a magical cabin. He thought.
"Any idea how Valtak keep it hidden from the guards? They just walked right past the cabin, as if they couldn't even see it."
- "You threw me away," - Daevera said with a sigh. - "And now, here you are, asking questions. Aren't you lucky I'm patient." -
You did say I was your master, Adrian shot back. So, doesn't that make my wish your command?
A long, resigned pause, and then, - "Very well, master." - He could practically feel her rolling her eyes.
- "The cabin is made of Elf wood, a rare material with certain… properties. It follows the will of its master, which is now you. The wizard may have lacked true power, but he knew enough alchemy to bind the wood to his wishes. That's what kept it hidden." -
Elf wood, huh? Adrian mused, as if anything Daevera had just said made sense to him. From a world of normal rules to this, where magic had its own set of rules.
Despite himself, he felt tempted to explore it, to see what else might be hidden here, to go through the other doors and discover new things. But the memory of his mother's frail face tugged at him.
He didn't have time to linger - she needed him. If he could get her away from the Dominion to the Federation, now that he had enough gold to afford a good magical healer, she might finally stand a chance.
Once I see mother safely out, I'll come back, he resolved. For now, I'll take what I can.
- "And then?" - Daevera pried.
"Then I'm going after Jax. He's… he's the only friend I have left." Adrian's voice tightened. "The City will hang him for sure. I can't abandon him."
Another pause, then a reluctant sigh. - "Your loyalty borders on foolishness," - she muttered. But when she sensed his determination, she relented. - "Very well. Since you seem determined to risk your life, I can help make things easier for you. I'll store the cabin and everything inside so it remains safe." -
Adrian glanced at the cabin around him, confusion clouding his face at her incredulous words. "...store the cabin? How?"
Daevera's voice turned instructive. - "Through my pocket space. It's an extradimensional hidden storage that you, as my master, can access. I can place the entire cabin inside, along with anything in it." -
Adrian looked down at the figurine, intrigued. No wonder the wizard was ready to kill for such a prize.
"So… I could store things inside it? Move them in and out at will?"
- "Precisely," - she replied, sounding pleased that he was catching on. - "Once you get used to it, it's quite straightforward. Here, I'll show you how." -
- "Envision the cabin down to the last detail, and give the command aloud - say, 'store.'"-
Adrian concentrated, picturing every detail of the cabin, every creak in the floorboards, every shadowed corner. "Store."
A soft pulse, a faint ripple brushing his skin and he found himself standing in an empty clearing. The cabin, and everything in it, was simply... gone.
He stared, awestruck. "It's… actually gone."
- "Of course it is," - she replied, with a hint of satisfaction. - "Now, if you need anything, just call for it with a similar command - 'retrieve' should do nicely." -
Testing it, Adrian thought of three coins and muttered, "Retrieve." His hand tingled, and when he opened it, there they were - three gold coins gleaming in his palm.
He stared, shocked.
"That's... wow." He was still processing when a thought struck him. "Do you have any weapons in there? Other than that dagger?"
A slight hesitation. - "No. Everything else was stolen long ago. All that's left is the dagger." -
The edge in her voice hinted at more, but Adrian had other things on his mind, so he decided not to press further.
He pocketed the figurine,.and his mind turned to his next steps: find his mother, put her on a ship to make sure she could reach safety, and figure out a way to save Jax. The City wouldn't think twice about hanging him.
He knew his mother would disagree. He could almost hear her saying, "He wouldn't risk a thing for you, Adrian. Why risk everything for him?"
A thought occured to him. "Can I store people in the pocket space?"
- "Sorry, but no. The pocket dimension exists outside of linear time. And without time, biological processes stop - no breathing, no heartbeat" -
Adrian sighed, disappointed.
- "Look on the bright side. At least, you don't have to explain how you came into a bag of gold." - Daevera said, sensing his disappointment.
Adrian didn't respond, and started walking towards the city. The storm had melted most of the snow away, and he could almost see the ground now.
He avoided glancing at the charred corpse of the wizard that was still smoking, and was surprised to find he felt no remorse for it.
It was either me or him, and I'll pick me anyday. He thought.
- "Where to now, master?" - Daevera's voice lilted, all innocence.
"Stop calling me that," he snapped, half amused, half annoyed. "I know you're just doing it to get under my skin. Call me Adrian. And first, I'm getting my mother."
- "Well, eat something first," - she snarked, voice practically a grin in his mind. - "That growling stomach could wake the dead." -