The early morning sun rose lazily over Mount Zur, its golden rays bathing the terrace outside in a warm light. I was the first in the council room, so I pulled the window shutters down and turned the lights on, instead, preparing for the others’ arrival. Derek, Tejus, and Lawrence had agreed to meet with Field, Serena, and me to go over our last conversation with Hansa.

We’d watched our GASP team leave for Neraka only yesterday just before noon. I knew Serena worried about Harper, but she’d managed to relax a little after Hansa’s updates. They were all okay, and actively investigating the disappearances in Azure Heights.

There was something still bugging me, a sliver of doubt that I was unable to identify. As if something felt off. But I couldn’t put my finger on it. I sat down, resting my hands on the table as I closed my eyes.

I took a deep breath. Day two of the Neraka investigative mission, and we’d just reached the six-hour mark. It was time to reach out and check in with the team.

“Telluris Hansa!” I called out.

There it was again—that little nudge that didn’t feel right. I couldn’t sense Hansa’s soul at all. I couldn’t sense any of their souls. This connection was meant to be flawless, altogether resistant to time and space.

A buzz emerged in the back of my head, reminding me of Field and Jovi’s radio communicators whenever they switched frequencies.

“Telluris Hansa!” I tried again.

Several seconds went by, during which time a knot quietly shaped in my stomach.

“Draven!” Her voice came through.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. We all are. Just enjoying breakfast here at the inn,” she replied, seemingly in a good mood. “The food is fantastic, by the way!”

Since when does Hansa care about food?

“How is the investigation going?” I asked.

“It’s slow, but there’s definitely something fishy going on here,” Hansa said, her voice muffled. “We’re going to study the Valley of Screams after lunch again. Caia and Blaze are still doing some interviews. We don’t know what’s causing the disappearances, but there are suspicions of strange animals lurking in the gorges that might be linked to this. We didn’t find anything during last night’s expedition, so we want to try an analysis under daylight, for now.”

“Are there any traces? Perhaps Avril can track a scent?”

“Yes, that’s one avenue we’re exploring,” she replied. “But we’re also… look… may… Maras… if they…”

Her voice began cutting out, like a bad radio transmission.

“Hansa? Hansa, can you hear me?” I called out.

I couldn’t hear her anymore. That knot in my stomach twisted itself into a painful position. I didn’t like this at all. I sighed, then thought I’d try another team member instead.

“Telluris Jaxxon!” I chanted.

A few seconds later, his familiar voice echoed in my head.

“Draven,” he responded. “I can’t hear you very well.”

“Yeah, I can tell. I was just talking to Hansa when the conversation dropped,” I replied, slightly irritated, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Telluris isn’t supposed to work like this.”

“I understand,” he said calmly. “Maybe it has something to do with the asteroid belt.”

“It shouldn’t. Telluris links souls. It doesn’t answer to space and matter in any way.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you.” Jax sighed. “I can hear you better now. It probably is affected by distance or the asteroids somehow. Maybe the Druids who devised this spell were wrong. Who knows?”

“Maybe,” I muttered, unsatisfied by the way my stomach reacted to Telluris’s instability. “Anyway. I understand you’re going to the Valley of Screams today?”

“Yes, in two to three hours, depending on when Caia and Blaze get back from the interviews,” Jax replied.

“What can you tell me about the Five Lords of Azure Heights?”

“They’re nice and hospitable,” Jax said. “They seem like nice people, but I can’t yet clear them of everything. Blame it on my people’s old grudge against the Exiled Maras, but I’ve yet to give them my vote of confidence. Their society seems well tied together, and the Imen seem okay with living among them. Technically speaking, I have no reason to distrust them right now, besides ancient bad blood.”

“I understand. Have they given you any reason to be suspicious of them?”

“None whatsoever. Like I said, it’s probably just the old family grudge I’m trying to shake off. My grandfather, Shadow, carried his anger into his grave.”

“I was telling Hansa to maybe consider having Avril use her tracking skills to pick up a scent in the city, regarding the disappearances.” I changed the topic.

“Yes, I’ll make sure she comes with us to the scene of the last disappearance,” he replied. “She’ll sniff something out for sure. Listen, Draven, we need to go now. Our guide for the gorges is here, we need to study the gorge maps with him. Let’s catch up in six hours.”

I exhaled sharply, then leaned against the back of my chair.

“That’s fine, I’ll speak to you then,” I said, my tone brisk. “Just be careful out there.”

“We will, don’t worry. We have a dragon, remember?”

I could almost hear the smile in his voice before the silence settled over me. Perhaps I was overreacting and I had no reason to worry so much about Telluris. Maybe Jax was right and the spell was, in fact, affected by the distance. There were few accounts of Telluris being used outside our galaxy, after all. I could do myself a favor and check them out in the Druid Archive, just in case. They could shed more light on the spell’s behavior.

The door opened. Serena walked in, lighting me up on the inside like the morning sun. Her father, Tejus, great-grandfather Derek, and Lawrence and Field followed, each giving me a brief smile and nod before they took their seats at the table.

“Have you heard from them yet?” Serena asked, taking her seat next to me.

“Just now, actually.” I nodded and squeezed her hand in mine.

“Any news? How is the investigation going?” Tejus pressed.

“So far, nothing new,” I muttered. “They’re checking the Valley of Screams again later. They didn’t get anything out of it last night.”

I briefed them about the rest of my conversations with Hansa and Jax, careful to also include the communication glitches. They all agreed it most likely had something to do with the distance or the asteroid belt. Or both.

It did help to hear them say something I’d been contemplating since yesterday, but I still couldn’t get rid of that knot in my stomach. I figured I’d go ahead and check those Druid Archives later, just to get some peace of mind.

In the meantime, I was already looking forward to the next check-in. I decided I’d reach out to Patrik or Harper directly, just to see if I had the same issues with them.

Until then, however, I could only hope that our team would come through and unravel the Nerakian mystery sooner rather than later. I really wasn’t comfortable with them all the way over there. I knew it was part of GASP’s operation, but still… Neraka irked me a little.

There’s something about it… Something just doesn’t feel right.

* * *

Dear Shaddict,

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