Cale woke up the next morning when Aletta stirred next to him. She turned several times, moving the entire bed, so that when they opened their eyes, they were face to face. Surprised, Aletta jerked back as a result, and Cale watched her almost fling herself out of bed with the action before he had to start laughing.

"What are you doing?", he announced with amusement, straightening up and offering his hand to the young healer, which she took grumbling. Only then did she look around the room and spot Grischa, as well as the Eldest.

The blond-haired man was merely sitting on the chair, holding one of Cale's secret books hidden in his hand and inspecting them both with a stern look before Aletta turned bright red, rolled out of bed and disappeared behind the door.

"Poor girl", the mage admitted with amusement, folding up the book.

"I'll talk to her later", Cale merely replied, turning to Grischa. He finally had a healthy color back in his face and when Grischa touched his arm he could also feel that his body was warm. The mana had regained control. What surprised Cale, however, was the fact that he could no longer feel the creature's alien mana. "The mark..."

"They killed it tonight, yes. Risztus contacted me right after that mark detached from Vonstetten's body", the Eldest explained. Relieved, Cale breathed a sigh of relief. It was like a ray of hope at the end of a long, long darkness. Seeing Grischa slowly recovering made Cale immensely happy.

"Thank the gods."

"Yes, indeed", the Eldest confirmed a moment later. "I've told everyone the status of things and asked them to come back to Exarion. We'll take a day's rest and then figure out how to proceed. Vonstetten... should be waking up soon, hopefully."

Cale watched as the blond-haired mage hid the book in his hand on the pile in the corner and walked back before putting on his coat. While he couldn't make out exactly what the Eldest had been reading, it must have been one of his notes about the future. Had he done nothing else all night?

"Thank you, for tonight", Cale replied politely.

"Don't mention it. See that you get back in shape, we have some work to do, and please report to me when our little princess is awake again", the Eldest threw back with surprising irony. Cale grinned at the statement before the Eldest bid farewell with a deep bow and left the apartment. Cale, however, dropped back into the bed before raising his hand as the sun's rays blinded him.

It seemed so surreal to him to finally feel something like an inner peace. Even though he knew full well that his problems were not out of the world. He just finally felt like he could take a breath. The worst was over for now, but they still had quite a few items on their list. The flying crystal. The Kormandents. Theorik. The training of the Anuxer and students of the Magistrat. The dragons and his time travel. The third wave. Where should he even start? What was most important at the moment, apart from the safety of the city? Should he deal with the Kormandents first, or should he finally face the problem he had been running away from his whole life?

The dragons and the truth about his rebirths.

Cale cleared his throat in annoyance and stood up. Sluggishly, he crawled out of bed and walked into the hallway before stopping in front of the guest room. On the other side of the door, he could sense that Aletta was in the process of getting dressed, so he didn't want to go in unannounced.

"Would you rather I had been taken back to your room?", he announced aloud, knowing Aletta could hear him.

"Shut up", she merely chided, throwing something at the door that Cale identified as a pillow or a piece of clothing.

"Okay, okay. I'll occupy the bathroom for now, okay?"

Since no answer came, he took it as a 'yes' and went into his large dressing room to look for some neat clothes. He finally settled on a white shirt and dark brown pants before disappearing into the bathroom.

As he let the warm water splash over him, Cale leaned against the wall, exhausted, and closed his eyes. Chaos still reigned in his mind, though the chaos was nowhere near as present as it had been last night.

Momentarily, Cale shook his head.

, he immediately decided, reaching his head up to let the water fall directly on his face. His mana mostly regenerated, he should be able to rebuild his middle barrier, but he would wait a little longer to do that.

Cale sighed. He could have come up with William's idea himself, even if fear had prevented him from doing so. If he had done it much sooner, Grischa wouldn't have had to suffer like this. Why had he never thought of it? Had he focused so much on the Kormandents that he had simply overlooked another, much easier way? He of all people, the mage with the strongest barriers in the world, could have thought of that. It was fortunate that he had told William about it.

A smile spread across his face before he realized what he was thinking. Cale had always kept the whole topic about time travel and any closer information quiet, only in this life he had decided to be more aggressive. But he did not expect that his behavior would turn out like this. Grischa owed his life to William's stupidity, because he had shouted his name so loudly in the trading city. If it had not come to that, or if she had not come to the subject, or if they had not stayed in that inn at all....

Jerkily, Cale straightened up.

Grischa had really been damn lucky. If even one thing had gone differently in the last few months, he probably wouldn't have survived the attack. It was only because William knew about Cale's Igrikum that he was still alive. Only because Cale had decided to share some secrets with the prince, something he never did otherwise. Was it perhaps really better to talk to several people about such topics? What was the current probability that his friends or the High-Magicians would declare him crazy? If even the Eldest believed him, then it probably really was an option. An option he couldn't bring himself to speak his whole life.

Cale reached for the soap and began rubbing it into his hair.

With mixed feelings, he stood under the warm water and washed his hair and skin extensively before he emerged from the shower after several minutes. Carefully, he began to dry his body before dabbing his hand and placing the towel over his shoulders to reach for his pants.

As he pulled them on, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Dark circles were visible under his eyes and his hair hung in his face like a damp cloth. His skin was quite pale, but his eyes shone almost golden. Cale's gaze wandered to his upper body, which was now marked only by a large ring. Dreamily, he ran his hand over the slightly muscular chest before sensing movement with his mana.

He didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately tore open the bathroom door and stormed through the hallway before opening his bedroom door with a loud bang. Surprised, a pair of green eyes looked at him.

"Grischa!", Cale cried with all his limbs, lunging at the High-Magician and wrapping his arms tightly around his friend. Somewhat paralyzed, Grischa tensed his body at that moment, so after a few seconds Cale let go of him and knelt in front of him. "How are you feeling? Are you still in pain? Do you feel sick? How does your body feel? Can you feel your mana again? Do you have..."

"I'm fine", Grischa calmly interrupted as Cale carefully scanned his friend's body and finally looked him in the eye. When he discovered the gentle smile on his face, a stone fell from his heart. Grischa really seemed as if nothing was wrong with him.

Cale's wet hair was dripping on the bed and he could feel Aletta approaching them, but he didn't care about either at the moment. He shakily clutched Cale's arm with one hand and looked tensely at his friend as he averted his gaze from Cale and spotted Aletta.

At the sleepy sight of her, Grischa said nothing, but merely raised his free hand a little and let his gaze fall on it. For a few moments there was silence. Cale and Aletta were both aware that Grischa was getting a picture of his mana household. He had to know full well that some mana was not his own. He then turned his head backwards as if looking for the mark, but there was nothing left of it except for Cale's Igrikum.

"What exactly... happened?", he finally raised, causing both Aletta and Cale to both smile. How could they possibly explain last night's action to him? It was abstruse, from beginning to end. "Why am I in your room, Caleb?"

Surprised, the 12th seat flinched.

"You've been here for half an eternity, don't you remember?", he explained in wonder.

"Half an eternity? Did I miss something? Did something happen to the city during the attack?", Grischa simply replied, looking down at Cale with a serious expression. Suddenly, Cale got goosebumps before he turned to the blond-haired healer. She had the same horrified expression on her face as Cale.

What was Grischa talking about and why didn't he remember what had happened?