Fuegin smiled. "Big bro, huh? Nice. I like your style, Leo. I think we can be friends."
"Okay," I said, still bewildered by all of this.
"You're cautious, I get that. What with that Mthunzi prick attacking you and all."
"And I don't think being friends is exactly why you're here," I said, studying him. There was something more to this guy.
"Do you have any idea why we're here?" Fuegin asked, his eyes narrow. "Why we were brought from our world to here and given these powers."
"No," I said. "Not really. Souleen won't tell me anything."
"Souleen?" He smiled. "That's cute. I call mine Soulita. She has a feistiness to her."
"Mine's more motherly," I said.
"Interesting," he said. "And does she have black hair and tan skin? A nice set of breasts? Like on your fomorian or on my Amante."
"Yeah," I said.
"They all look alike, the Souls of the Void Crystals," said Fuegin. "Or so I can gather. But they have different personalities. Why do you think that is?"
I shook my head.
"Yeah, I'm pretty clueless myself." He sighed. "I never had the patience for study. You know, always thought school was useless. Not the idea of it, but the execution. Sit there, listen to boring lectures, and memorize dumb shit. I want to be doing things. Teach me to rebuild a car engine or wire an electrical circuit. Give me something useful."
"And now... Now I'm here and I want to understand the Void Crystal. Why we're here. What the whole point is in bringing us into the world. The locals hate us. They have a whole cottage industry of adventurers. You're out in the hinterlands, but there's a town near here putting out the call for some adventurers. You get closer to the big population centers, and some heroes out there could flatten this dungeon without taking a breath. And when we're not killing each other, we attract wandering monsters that want our mana and other dungeon builders looking to increase their power. But here's the catch, the more you have, the more the locals try to kill you. Why? What is the point in bringing us here?"
"I really don't know," I said. "I've been wondering that myself. I've been here not long, though."
"Fifty years for me." He stretched his back. "And all I can think about is we're being honed."
"Honed?"
He nodded. "Violence to keep us sharp. To keep strengthening us. To build us up into something. What, I don't know. But this is a crucible. Something is being smelted. We're either the new alloy of whatever being brought us here, or we're the slag that floats to the surface and gets scraped away. The impure parts. The bits that aren't needed to make something better. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be thrown away."
"I don't either," I said, my stomach sinking.
"So, that's why I thought we could be friends." He reached into his robe and plucked out a scroll. He tossed it to me. Garnet snatched it with her tail. It was parchment rolled up tight and sealed with red wax that had a chevron made of four of the arrow, cuneiform-like lines. A stylized flame.
"Break that seal if you ever need to contact me. I'll come and help. If I can."
"Thanks," I said, frowning. His words filled a pit in me.
"Lovely Du, shall you guide me to the front door again?" asked Fuegin to my wildhound.
She glanced at me. I nodded as I took the scroll from my sister. I held it in my hand. I had just made an ally. As surprising as that was, my stomach roiled. This was something serious. I bit my lip, glancing at my sister and then Lana.
"What do you think?" I asked.