“Ah, a-alright then, Goodbye, Crystal!!” I yelled at her to make sure she heard me.

After that… strange magic ritual, I just went to sleep, a bit tired from all this practice. I think we spent one or two hours doing that, anyway.

The next day…

After I woke up, I rubbed my eyes and proceeded to get up from the bed. Stretching as I yawned.

Hmm… Good morning to me, I guess. I feel… oddly well. Maybe my interactions with Natalie, Crystal and the others are helping me out… I suppose that’s good.

As usual, I walked to the kitchen and started to make some nice coffee to help me focus and a quick sandwich to eat.

I pulled the hiring advertisement out of my pocket and took a look at it, looking for the address of said company. I didn’t realize it before, but it actually wasn’t that far from my house. Interesting.

With that done, I looked at one of my coffee cups in the distance while sitting on the couch. Wondering if I can use the basic magic Crystal taught me…

Pointing my arm forward and aimed at the kettle, I held it in mid air with my magic and moved it towards the coffee cup. After gulping out of nervousness, I tilted it and the coffee was pouring into the cup. 

Quickly, the cup started to overfill. “Oh no.” I moved the kettle aside and pulled the coffee cup to myself.

The cup splashed slightly although I managed to hold it. “AGH. HELL… OWOWOW!!” I blew my hand and flinched in pain. I almost wished I was a natural at magic instead of Architects. “G-geez… That hurt, but… I did something. At least. That was…” That was fun? That was fun. Definitely, oddly enough. 

Unsure what to think of that, I couldn’t help but laugh it off, I managed to use that weird lazy and convenient magic to get my coffee from far away. I just drank it, then got a taxi towards the Stellar Site yet again. I rubbed my hand a bit, but fortunately the burn wasn’t that severe. I think Crystal’s influence is getting to me already...

Soon, I arrived. I noticed everyone was already there, including Crystal. “Huh? Crystal’s here before me?... Crystal is early?!” Not gonna lie, this was a HUGE shock to me. She’s been early two days in a row, and arrived before me.

“Yeah!” Crystal wagged her tail yet again. “But don’t worry, we’re all early, so it’s no problem! Everyone wins!”

“Yeah sure…” I put my hand behind my head and rubbed my hair awkwardly out of embarrassment, then went to sit down with them. “So, where’s the protective gear we needed?” I asked, I didn’t notice anything regarding it yet.

Arthur replied in a quiet, low voice. “Don’t say that too loudly, Matt… Natalie and I brought them stored in our magic pocket dimensions to not cause a scene.”

“Ah… Sorry. “ I apologize to him in the same quiet voice, I had completely forgotten we couldn’t talk so loud about this. Oops… “This pocket dimension talk… Isn’t it hard to carry those things?”

“Yeah, I can feel the weight as if I was holding it for real, but my status as a former King sure gave me strength, I’m carrying a lot more than Natalie is.”

“Alright.” I looked at my phone for the time… “I think we should go now, everyone’s here and I don’t wanna waste any more time.

We nodded, and began our move towards the ship again. The same process from last time happened, and we started our second journey to space. Dennis looked nervous and hit his index fingers together though.

I walked towards him. “Uhh Dennis, you alright?” I put my hand on his back. Dennis sobbed. “Yeah, I’m alright… Just worried, you know. Worried that something will happen to us…”

I looked at the others, they seemed pretty fine compared to Dennis and me. “Yeah, I’m worried too, but I think it’ll all go just fine. The anxiety is definitely normal and understandable, but deep down I know it’ll be fine. We’re all professionals here. And friends too.” I can’t believe I said something so corny…

“Right… Thanks...” Dennis then started to take deep breaths. Poor guy…

“Hey, Matt.” Natalie approached me. “Oh, yeah Natalie?” I looked at her wondering what she wanted. “You mentioned the Emptiness could be a moving layer, so Arthur and I figured he could investigate that. I don’t know if you knew, but he’s practically immortal. His life is linked magically with relics etc etc… You get the idea.”

“Wait, what? What the hell Natalie?” I’m not able to take this information so fast, why is she saying that so lightly?

Arthur laughed. “Ah don’t worry Matt, basically: If my body is destroyed, my being is backed up somewhere else, it’s more like a respawn than immortality.” “Oh… That makes more sense.” I looked at Natalie visibly annoyed. “Do you think the body you have right now can resist that… thing? Though?”

“To be quite honest with you, I have no idea, but I’m confident in myself and the protective gear we have. Speaking of…” Arthur and Natalie had now summoned some strange dark cubes out of their magic storage.

“Cubes?...” I looked at them and poked one gently. Suddenly, the cube shaped into a suit of armor that matched my body size. “Huh… neat.” I looked around. “So we’re putting these along with the travel belts?”

“Yes, that should keep us more protected than needed.” Replied Arthur, we then all put on our travel belts, and our armor suits.

Dennis struggled to put on his armor. “Aaah, I can’t… Put this on. Can you guys please help me?”. “Alright! I’ll help you, little guy!” Crystal chuckled and helped Dennis put on his suit, like a big mom helping her needy child. Weird to watch, but kinda funny nonetheless. “T-thanks… Crystal.” Dennis blushed a bit and Crystal chuckled, soon enough, we had everything ready.

And when we were ready, we made a stop at the Colderes planet, near the wall of dark goopiness that was blocking so much of the universe. The gates opened, and Arthur looked at us.

“Hey, if for any reason things don’t go as expected… Just promise me you folks will take care of things for me.”

I leaned my head back. “Arthur? You and Natalie said that you will be fine. Why the sudden different speech?”

“Just a small precaution, this whole situation is still a huge mystery for us. Now then, take care. I’ll go explore this thing.”

Arthur jumped off the ship and submerged himself into the horrible, possibly soul draining goop of absolute darkness.