Calyx looked at us with big, sad eyes full of questions and perhaps even a little bit of hope.
"The tide of beasts is waning," he said softly. "You will leave soon, I presume."
I nodded. "We won't be gone for good. We are allies now, aren't we?"
Before he could answer, Vespera squared up to him. "Or was the talk of being allies all a ruse?"
"Hey, calm down. We were the ones to propose it," Elyra chastised her.
The demon shrugged.
"We are allies, yes," the dryad said. "Although I do not know what that might entail. As she said, you were the ones who proposed we become allies should we fail to solve the riddle, not us."
"We'll figure something out, I'm sure," Vespera said with a shrug. "We usually just wing these things. It's been working so far."
"Maybe we can talk some more while we wait?" I offered. "I was thinking about the tale you told us."
Calyx's face was dreamy. "Yes… to think that we were once able to touch the stars…"
"This void that consumes magic," I began. I wanted to know more about it, because it might be linked to what was going on in this world. "And the System that's supposed to protect us, using all of its energy in its battle of attrition against the void. Something doesn't add up, though. Why do the monster cores give it energy? Why can't it gather mana from the atmosphere, or even from the beings under its influence? I can regenerate mana; why can't it take some from me?"
The dryad looked at me. "I do not know the answers to these questions."
"What's the mechanism behind the beast tides?" I asked.
Calyx shook his head. "I do not know."
"What about angels and demons? Did you ever see anyone like them?" I gestured at the girls. "Maybe in a vision?"
He shook his head again. "No," he said. Then, looking up: "The tide is over. The shield will drop soon."
I got the sensation that, while sad that we were about to leave, he was also relieved that the questions were over. For now. I had no intention of letting such a treasure trove of information go, and it was clear that even though the girls and I had talked big about only wanting to live a good life here, we were going to get all tangled up with the local mysteries sooner or later. The Skitterpede hole was proof of that, as neither of us three could stop thinking about it.
We went back above ground, and a blue sky greeted us. The sun was near its zenith, shining through the canopy of the great tree, filtered by the shield. Then, the shield began to evaporate, like a thin sheet of ice left out in summer, starting from the top.
"You look sad," Vespera told the dryad.
Calyx looked at us, face blank but eyes filled with tears and emotion. "I never experienced anything like this, but… I don't want you to leave…"
"Aww," the demon cooed.
Elyra took a step forward. "We will return, if you will offer us safe haven?"
The dryad nodded. "I suppose it could be one of the things being allied entails. The tree will remain, as will the riddle. You will be the only ones able to come and go as you please."
"Good to know," I said. "What about guests? What if we tell them the answer to the riddle?"
"Then the tree will know. Guests can come, but outsiders who have been told of the riddle will find themselves facing a new question."
"Also a good thing to know, thank you." I replied.
"Please," he added. "Do come back. I have known loneliness all my life, but it is not something I enjoy. I could see the recognition in your eyes when I told you the tree's tale. It is tiny now, no longer able to touch space again, and I have known nothing but this prison. Perhaps you have a tale of your own you could tell me?"
I sat down on the ground. "I can tell you my tale now."
"Do you not have to go?"
"Not really," I said. "The only reason to ever go to the city was to weather the beast tides. I suppose that's not necessary anymore."
"That is an oversimplification," Elyra said. I smiled. Of course it was. The city was also a place to get information, potions, weapons and armor. My iron stick was still with me and in good shape despite all the fighting, but I still wanted that big ass sword.
"Besides, we are broke. My backpack with all the cores is gone."
"Ah," the dryad said, scratching the back of his head. The leaves that made up his hair rustled as if moved by a breeze. "The encounters you fought to get the cores should have reset. The number of bushes has changed, but not the amount of wolves, or their strength. It is supposed to be a lure, after all. You can challenge them again if you wish."
"Hey, spacer boy," Vespera said, a glint in her eyes. "How about we fight one group, and then we come back to rest here and then you tell Calyx a part of the story? When we are all rested, we fight again and you tell some more story? Of course, I'd expect plant boy to supply food and beverage. What's a story without some good refreshments?"
"I can do that."
"Then go fetch 'em!" the demon said, springing to her feet. "We'll kill some wolves in the meantime."
When Calyx returned, we were still in the middle of the fight. Since the beast tide had just passed, there was nobody nearby, so we were free to practice using our full arsenal. Most importantly, we could use [Resonance Castling] to swap places. Doing so put it on cooldown, like it did when I sent the demon girl into the river, but we wondered if beginning another fight would reset it.
We used it as a finisher. When we were down to the last wolf, Vespera pretended to lower her guard and let the monster pounce her. When it was mid-air, and it was too late for it to change its trajectory, she and I swapped places. I was already mid-swing with my iron stick, and I killed it in one shot.
I loved the fact that the skill preserved momentum and motion. It was simply… insane.
Back under the protection of the tree, we enjoyed some ambrosia and let the adrenaline of the fight slowly faded.
"Easy three cores," Vespera said. "And we should be close to a level."
"I don't feel anything," I said.
"Bah," the demon waved me away. "Who cares what you feel!"
To top it off, she even stuck her tongue out at me.
After the little theatrics, I began to tell Calyx my own tale. He was quite surprised to learn that I came from another world, even more so when I mentioned the utter lack of magic over there. I told him how, instead of big flying trees governed by a spirit, we had cold, sharp metal boxes run by computers. I disabused him of the notion that space was warm and inviting, at least where I was from. It was cold, sterile, and uncaring. Without magic to help, all it did was try to kill you in creative ways.
I told him about the AIs that killed the human race. The kill code that disabled all technology in the blink of an eye. He did not miss the striking similarities to the void that eats all magic, and even wondered if the two might be the same thing.
"The tree just sent me an image of great waves, like ripples in a pond, but through the air. It stands at the center of the ripples, and they go outwards into the sky until they crash against the void."
We all looked at Calyx. Then at each other. "Could it be…" Vespera began, all serious for once.
"A sort of emitter for the System?" I wondered out loud.
Elyra looked at Vespera. "It is too early to speculate, troublemaker."
Vespera made a face, and I felt her indignation. "Why do you only look at me? Sol also speculated. You… you… and you called me what? Well, hear this: You are a trash panda angel cat."
"It does not sound good when you use all the nicknames at once," the angel said.
Vespera was fuming. "ANYWAY. The kill code sabotaged Sol's ship and that's how he died: Crashing against a space station at close to the speed of light. No wonder your riddle triggered him."
"W-what happened to the station?" the dryad asked. He was still coming to terms with the immense scales of space, and the vast numbers of people living in it at the prime of human civilization, right before the end.
"It was completely annihilated by the impact, I presume," I said. "That's pretty much the only outcome when a space hauler weighing several hundred thousand tons hits you at near the speed of light."
"So you had to… decelerate… but couldn't do it… because…" the dryad said, trying to wrap his head around the many complicated concepts.
"Because the kill switch from the AIs disabled my ship. Engines, navigation, everything."
"And the energy did not just dissipate?"
I shook my head. "No atmospheric drag to slow me down. There might have been some space dust, but it did nothing more than put some holes in my hull while the deflectors were down."
It was quite fun seeing his face scrunch up in thought, until he eventually nodded. "It is a tragic tale."
"But it has a good ending," I retorted.
Elyra blushed when I looked at her, while Vespera made a funny face. I smiled at both of them. They were my girls, and I couldn't ask for a better ending to my tale. Even though we were nowhere close to the actual end of it.
"Silly spacer boy," the demon said, looking away. "You are thinking about something corny. Stop."
"I am okay with it," the angel said instead. "It makes me feel warm and fuzzy."