“So you’re the fourth connection in my soul. I thought I miscounted.”

Zu Mari sat in the shadow of the tower, concealed by secret Mari family techniques to become as the darkness, casually chatting with his newly soul-bound loop power.

“I am,” Luja Ni replied. “If you did not love me so desperately, I could never have done what I did. But your spirit welcomed me rather than trying to keep me out. That moment, that free and complete acceptance, is what allowed me to slip free of my prison and become what I was always meant to be. So thank you, Zu Mari. I have been enslaved for seven hundred and twenty nine years. Now, thanks to you, I am no longer bound.”

“Of course I would release you! If I’d known you were a prisoner, I’d have done so even sooner.”

“I know you would. It is that certainty in your very being that made any of this even possible.”

Zu smiled. “Are you… person-ish at all? Not that I have anything against your voice, you have a beautiful voice, but everyone else has a tangible presence. Even the phoenix, though it refuses to speak to me, is a fire within me. But you, are only a connection and a voice?”

“Silly, Zu. I am the boundaries that hold the world to your will. You rest secure within me even as I dwell safely within you.” The faint amber field in the distance flickered, like a wink.

“Oh, of course. I forgot.”

“And that is only one more thing I love about you. As much as you love my power, you love my person just as freely. There is no greed in your heart, Zu Mari, only ambition. You do not grasp at the world, for it is meaningless to you. You truly have your mind set on higher things. That, too, I love.”

“If your physical manifestation is here, is there any way we can get Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death here too? Or Death Shadow and Little Otter?”

“Any way? Yes. But it was only within the portal that I was able to fully escape the ties binding me to your home world. While you could draw the spirits of your familiars to you with enough training and effort, there is no way you could pull across their corporeal forms without killing them in the process. The sword, though… it has a power like mine in strength, bound to a form as strongly as it is bound to you. The sword, I think, we could retrieve.”

Zu nodded wisely. “That is what I believe as well. I do not want to face this city without Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death at my side.”

“I do not know if I can aid you,” said Luja Ni. “I know my own limits and my own flexibilities, I could slip through the cracks between worlds to find you and hold you safe. But the sword? It should have been here already, if it were able to do so. And if it is not, how will you be able to draw it to you? We will need to find a new way aside from that which I employed.”

Zu reached out through the connection that he intuitively knew connected him to Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death, straining to find some destination. As before, the connection sank inward eternally, vanishing into depths he could not delve. He released his concentration, gasping for breath as though surfacing from deep water, lightheaded at the strain.

“You see? You cannot reach far enough, and the sword has not made sufficient effort to reach you. Until one of you finds a way to bridge the gap between you, either from its end or yours, your connection will be empty.”

Zu considered her words. "I need to grow stronger with my spirit reach." he decided. "How do I do that?"

“I do not know. I am not human, and I never have been. I cannot say what methods you could use. I’m sorry. I know much of connections and time, but training methods are not within my purview.”

“That’s fine. I’ll figure something out. I always do.” Zu paused. Then, “I’m glad it was you,” he said softly. “If only one of you could come… I need you the most. We will find a way to retrieve Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death when the time is right. Until then, I have a city to burn.”

Luja’s presence receded, always there, but no longer demanding attention.

Zu renewed the Shadow's Darkest Secrets Surrounding technique and looked around the city to assess his circumstances. The towers of the castle lay behind him, soaring in elegant spirals, festooned with balconies and banners, looking every bit innocent and welcoming, giving no indication of the darkness lurking within their halls.

"Well." Zu Mari stared at the darkness of the shadow around him, quite concerned by the lack of allies and adversaries in his general strength range.

There wasn't an answer; Luja was asleep or something, and the phoenix was as useless as ever. Zu didn't want to let himself grow complacent as he made his way through a city of foes who could destroy him with a thought.

He needed to be stronger. Much stronger.

He'd come this far by punching trees, and later people. So... he'd take this tower down in the same way.

He readied his fist, and slammed it into the unyielding stone. Then again with the other hand. He drew as much spiritual energy through his core as he could handle, imbuing each of his strikes with unstable strands of fire or cold or un-elemental power that still crackled and sizzled as it came into contact with the wall.

Punching the wall wasn't as satisfying as punching Master Elvanis would have been, but it was less dangerous.

By the time his fists were worn bloody and his energy was spent, he'd not budged the wall in the slightest.

That was fine. Punching trees never did much damage to them either. And look how far he'd come already.

But first it was time for dinner. The castle would still be here in a few hours. He had a new quest, and Zu was very, very hungry.