"Things escalated really quickly", Cale admitted after a long pause. He had found himself in his usual place on the roof of the Magistrat, holding the communication crystal in his hand. At the other end were Aletta and Philippa, as well as William and Ben. Four days had passed since the beginning of the evacuation, and the capital of Exarion was now as if deserted. The two girls, along with the healers from Frignez, had also retreated to the north and were not too far from the defense line. Thousands of people were also on their way there and despite the help of Grischa's ships, the progress was rather slow. The only ones who were still so close to the creature level were Cale, Aaron, Rangar, and some skilled mages as support. Rangar was currently the only one right on the edge keeping an eye on what was going on, while Aaron mostly took care of the organizational stuff.

Cale, on the other hand, was just waiting for the fight to begin. In the coming days, the other High-Magicians would also gather in the city, as this was where they drew the first line of defense. Depending on the situation, they would fall back to the river border and let the dragons do the rough work. Several kilometers to the north, near the twin mountains of Frignez, the three chiefs had taken up their positions, and that was where the Eldest was currently staying. Since Damian's visions were too important, he was instructed by Aaron to stay away from the fight as long as he could. Therefore, he would serve as a middleman between the Dragons, the High-Magicians on the border, and the population in the north. The biggest problem they had now was not to miss anything. Everyone was on high alert and things looked similar in Sylve. They had already evacuated the inhabitants and drawn a proper defensive wall north of the capital, Bellator. From Ben's descriptions, this line resembled a siege from the war books.

"Kind of. When you said that the attack of the creatures will not be the last, I had not thought of such a thing", Aletta calmly spoke up. She had insisted on staying in Exarion until the last, but after pleading several times and handing the Igrikum to the blonde-haired healer, Aletta accepts that she was the contingency plan for the worst case scenario. What made her situation a lot more interesting, however, was that Nodiavi was in the care of her family. Ninett had been the only person Cale had trusted enough to keep an eye on the Thormod leader. Inwardly, however, he would have preferred to kill her to eliminate a potential source of danger - but Damian, Grischa, and Aaron had been against that drastic decision.

"Do you think we'll see dragons here in Frignez?", Philippa cautiously spoke up. Like every other resident, the group of four had learned that dragons were going to join the fight. This was probably one of the main reasons why the people had moved so quickly to safety. That and the events of the second wave.

"I hope not, because if the dragons show up this far north, it inevitably means we'll fail on the front lines", Cale clarified. There was no way he could sugarcoat the situation, and everyone was aware of that. The only ray of hope he could cling to was to find and eliminate the chairman and the rest of the Thormod leaders. Cale's main task was therefore not to defend the people, as he had usually done, but to find and kill the dangerous Thormods. Together with Aaron, Luc and Rangar, he would therefore go directly into the masses, which was a delicate undertaking that Cale did not like at all. Moving between all the attacks and then the dragons will be life-threatening for everyone present, especially since they possessed the most important tasks of all.

"Please don't say such things", Aletta replied in a sad voice.

"I'm just telling you the facts."

"Still. It always sounds pretty grim when you put things that way."

"Aletta please... I know what you're getting at, but let it go. Take care of Frignez and the refugees and let me worry about the rest", Cale stated calmly, not wanting to start another discussion with her. He had had that too many times in the last few days and wanted to talk normally with his friends one last time today. At the sight of the four figures, however, Cale couldn't help but feel afraid. Fear that his efforts would dissolve into nothingness. Fear of being reborn. Fear of being the only one who could remember.

"Did it get this bad because of what happend with Marion?", the prince spoke up, abruptly ending a possible escalation. He stayed in Bellator together with Ben and thousands of soldiers, watching what was happening before their eyes.

"It was inevitable. According to the Thormod, the failure of the second wave was already a major turning point and the incident with Marion was just another drop on an already overflowing glass."

"I understand", William merely muttered and backed away. The loss of his brother was still relatively fresh, but he had buried himself in training and work the last few days. At least, that's what Fengari had told him.

"I wish for the old days to come back", Aletta commented. "Just doing what you feel like doing and not living in the threat of war. Getting up late and then spontaneously saying: today we're going to the sea."

"Can you swim at all?", Ben retorted, straightening up, making his whole armor rustle.

"Unfortunately not, but I've been told that you can learn relatively quickly."

"That's true. I didn't learn to swim until I was an adult either, and after about two weeks I could do it pretty well", Philippa confirmed in a delighted voice.

"We have beautiful beaches here in Sylve, especially in the 21 Islands region. Swimming there is something we should definitely do sometime."

"I can well imagine. When Aletta and I came to Sylve on the ferry, we got to see a few", Philippa replied to Ben's statement.

"Father has a private island there", William interjected. "It's really nice and quiet, though in retrospect I've been there far too infrequently."

The High-Magician knew immediately which island William was talking about. Mainly because he had visited the islands once in his past life, without permission. The island Cale had acquired for the Magistrat was not too far from the King's private island, but counted as unsuitable to live on because of its rocky landscape. For mages, however, this was not much of a problem, as they could use earth magic to smooth the surface comparatively easily and build the new Magistrat on it. Whether Cale would have to resort to this way out remained to be seen.

A smile appeared on the mage's lips as he listened to the four of them talk. He was glad that none of them was hurt and that they were all safe. Whenever he recalled the past, the thought crossed his mind that they were already on the run at that time or that some of them had died. For a moment Cale felt proud of his success, but equally he did not allow himself to own that feeling. It was not enough and he had not yet achieved anything. All his efforts over the past decades would be put to the test in the coming week. A test whose outcome would change his life forever.

"If you had the chance...", the High-Magician finally began after a few minutes. "... to change one thing about the past, what would you do?"

Aletta and Philippa exchanged brief glances, while Ben was the first to speak up, probably knowing.

"Start training earlier and take my father's work more seriously. I've wasted a long time not being any help to anyone and I'd change that."

"I would probably take my sister with me if I could", Philippa explained with a slightly depressed undertone. She hadn't kept in touch with her tribe for years, so she had no idea what had happened to her younger sister. Cale didn't know her, but he could understand how Philippa must currently be feeling.

"Do you miss her?", Aletta asked cautiously.

"A little, yes. I shouldn't have left without her then, but I had no choice."

"Well, when this is all over, we can go and look for her", Aletta cheered her friend up, while a shiver ran down Cale's spine. Perhaps he was too pessimistic, but he strongly doubted it would work that easily. After all, the people of faith were, to him at least, a group he deliberately preferred to avoid.

"What about you, what would you change?", Philippa directed to Aletta.

"I don't know at all. So far I've been very happy with my life. Maybe speak a little more openly with my father, then some problems would never have arisen, but otherwise..."

"I think similarly. If I hadn't grown up under so much pressure from the royal family and my older brothers back then, I could have prevented some things. I should also have spoken to my family much more often, but honestly and calmly and not as I usually did", William confessed. The audience roughly knew what he was talking about. The hatred for the royal family was an unnecessary conflict that could easily have been resolved with a little patience. But on the other hand, the palace could not dare to put the princes in danger. "I should have paid better attention during my lessons, too."

"So do I", Ben threw in afterward.

"ME too", Aletta pointed out with wide eyes and a nod. It almost seemed as if each of them regretted not being more diligent. Yet, in Cale's eyes, they were incredibly educated, quite in comparison to other people their age.

"What about you, Cale? What would you change?", Philippa finally spoke up.

"I don't know, I'd probably take care of the Thormods a lot sooner."

"Nothing else? Anything... other than work?"

"Something like 'going on trips' or 'meeting people'?", Ben threw in a bit ironically. Cale didn't know what to answer to that. After all, he had already received several attempts, so he had achieved a pretty optimal future. He was a High-Magician, had a good relationship with the people he cared about, and was in control of events in the world. He wouldn't wish for much else, except to be able to hit the gods.

"Maybe punch a certain god in the face", he therefore threw out in response, laughing at the statement. Not that he would really dare to do that, but the thought gave him pleasure. The god of the future, Mellontiko, had definitely caused chaos in his life and was the main reason why he was in this mess.

"A god?", the four of them exclaimed at the same time, literally staring at him.

"You know that the gods don't exist, do you? Or do you believe in them?", Philippa added incredulously.

"Don't take everything I say literally", Cale elegantly dodged the question and sat back. Even though he hadn't believed in the gods before, he certainly did now. Mainly because of the dragons and their testimony, even though he had never met them personally. For their existence was the only explanation for his current situation.

"It's funny how you hate the faith, Phil", Ben commented with amusement.

"I have nothing against faith per se. After all, it's up to each person to be convinced of it or not. My problem is more with being forced to believe in it. In my eyes, that's just wrong."

"When you're right, you're right."

"Yes, everyone has their own opinion about certain things. Belief is just one of them", Aletta added calmly. "Such things as one's lifestyle, the people one wants to spend time with, how one dresses, or something as mundane as what one likes to eat."

"You only think about food, too, don't you?"

"Food is important!", the healer immediately defended herself, and the others began to laugh at the statement. Aletta had always been the first when it came to us good food and she wasn't afraid to try new things. Probably one of the reasons why she had enjoyed traveling the world so much. Much like William, she wanted to see and experience something other than the eternal winter in Frignez.

As Cale listened unobtrusively to the laughter of his friends, he could sense Aaron approaching him. A skeptical glance behind showed that the dark-haired High-Magician was heading straight for him, which made Cale turn back to his work.

"You four", he therefore began quietly, interrupting the laughter. "I'm afraid I must be on my way again."

"Already?", William inquired.

"Yes. Work is waiting for me. Can you promise me something?" he added, giving a serious look to his friends, who nodded in agreement. "Take care of yourselves. I'm really serious about this. Don't put your lives in danger just because you think you can make a difference. Promise me you'll be really careful, all right?"

"I promise", the girls replied in unison, accompanied by nods from Ben.

"William?"

"If you can guarantee me that we can meet again after all this and you tell us the whole story at once. So everything, from beginning to end", William threw back, but something in his voice made this statement seem not like a request, but rather like a concerned plea.

"I promise you that", Cale confirmed with a gentle smile as Aaron came to a stop behind him.

"Thank you. I will also be careful and if something should be, please contact me. See you around", William replied hesitantly. In turn, the four Anuxers said their goodbyes and with a heavy heart, Cale let the communication crystal disappear into his null magic before turning his attention to Aaron.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting."

"That's all right", Cale countered with a faint smile, gesturing for the High-Magician to move on. "I just wanted to see her one last time before we go into battle."

"Admitted, that's understandable", Aaron acknowledged. "I'm a little scared by the whole situation, too."

"That's normal."

"Sadly, yes. But not a feeling I want to get used to and I really don't need to talk about. I've been through a few wars, thought nothing compared to you."

"A war is a war - there's no better or worse. At least in my opinion."

"That may be", Aaron acknowledged, aiming for the small spire of the Magistrat. "I just talked to Damian, and he wants to call a final, big meeting for all countries tomorrow night."

"To get everyone on the same page, I assume?"

"Yes. To make sure all the preparations have been made and we're not missing anything. Some representatives of the people of the faith should also attend."

"Probably not so wrong. Winstest may not be a target currently, but they shouldn't venture into false security either."

"Quite", Aaron confirmed, stopping abruptly. "I have a question for you. In your other lives... was Winstest ever actively involved in the third attack?"

"Not in the third wave, but a few years later they were also targeted. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. Do you know that feeling when something isn't right?"

"Yeah, too well."

"I don't know why, but the people of faith are kind of suspicious to me."

"Why that?"

"You were rarely present at the talks, but somehow the tribal leaders seemed strange to me. As you said, they are not currently in danger, but yet they talk as if they are very afraid."

"What's so suspicious about that?"

"The way...they said it", Aaron tried to voice his concerns. "I can't really describe it. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something."

"Following up on that is going to be rather difficult at the moment", Cale replied, recalling his encounters with tribal leaders. The faith people had always been exhausting, in his opinion, but he couldn't relate to what Aaron was trying to describe. "I probably wouldn't worry too much about it, especially now. Not that we'll provoke them unintentionally anymore."

"Yeah...", Aaron confirmed, but seemed unable to let go of the thought.