,m Since my new wife was busy, I focused more on the kids, working tirelessly to help them open up. Our little cooking session seemed to bring some effects, but the whole process was rather slow.

In the meantime, Celestine was constructing a platform for the people who needed help in form of access to the device but had very little chance to receive such help. Usually victims of chronic diseases, disabilities, veterans of war, or people who survived terrible accidents. All the cases brought barely any attention to themselves for various reasons, so the chance of getting high on the lists in charity organizations was close to zero.

Some of those people weren't even on those lists at all.

It was hard work, especially with a limited amount of time, since The Great One could return at any moment, and we then would proceed with the whole project.

It took him a little bit over two weeks to contact me. I was with the children at the moment, teaching them how to swim in our underground pool.

"I'm back. We shouldn't waste any more time. We need to proceed. Gather those willing to participate in Loistavadvaar", I suddenly heard in my head, as I was showing Leonel how to keep himself afloat.

- I need to go - I said, surprising them all. - Go dry yourselves, take a shower, and dress up. We will continue with this some other time.

I said it because since only Tihana was able to win, and only barely, I didn't want any accidents to happen.

- It's The Great One - I explained after receiving a glare from my now not-so-fake daughter.

Minutes later, I was already walking around the city, spreading the information among my friends to gather at my house. I even tried to search for Celestine, but she must have been outside Arc, probably in Dwarka, working.

Minutes later the group of my friends was at my house. Without unnecessary delay, I took them all to Loistavadvaar.

The view of the underground, jade city illuminated by cold, silver light took their breaths away. For me and Will, it was already a very familiar picture, so we didn't even react, but others couldn't stop pooling around.

The thing which grabbed their attention the most was the gates with the windows to other worlds. Only after focusing on that for a good chunk of time, they noticed the device. It was different compared to what we had in Arc, so they got curious about that too.

All that exploration got cut short by the appearance of four aliens. The fake High Queen Ixa, hulking colossus Druoag, much smaller but very distinguished Genusha Sab Ar Irati Ashemi, and the embodiment of peacefulness in form of Katri Xel Avakadaisu. Actually, her appearance surprised me the most.

- Welcome, humans - said The Great One. - I am the one known as The Great One, now in the body of the High Queen Ixa. Those are my companions, whom I chose to pursue the same goal as you, hopefully, already agreed upon. The building of the new cities, to strengthen ourselves in the upcoming war.

After that, he introduced all three of them. I did the same thing, introducing the humans to the aliens.

- We have eight seeds, but as everybody can see, we have more people to split them among so I guess we should come up with some consensus - I said.

- There are only three of us, so you could get five, and we could get three. It's still more for you than for us - said Genusha.

- We shouldn't use the terms 'them' and 'us' - Druoag pointed out. - We are all together in this. Only by cooperation, we can achieve our goals. We should focus on avoiding division. Splitting into groups, and pursuing our individual goals is unacceptable as we are facing something that directly threatens the existence of the whole empire, despite all the quarrels existing in its body as a whole.

- We could get more seeds - Will jumped on that.

- The acquiring of more seeds might be a problem at the moment - said The Great One. - We should focus on using what we have for now.historical

- Well... I couldn't pick more, but there is maybe a possibility of somebody else going there and getting at least a few more - I proposed.

- It's worth trying - said Nil. - We have nothing to lose. If we can, then we can't, but if we can, then our situation will get much better. Won't it?

- I agree. I can jump there right now with a few people to check - I agreed.

I expected an answer from The Great One, but it didn't come immediately, so an awkward moment of silence happened to all of us. Eventually, though, he replied.

- You don't understand that place yet. It's too soon to come back. I can't allow you to break the rules. The consequences would be too severe.

- Nobody is saying anything about breaking the rules. We just want to go, and check if there is a chance to do it. If not, then we will come back. I don't see where the problem is - I argued.

- The problem is that I am not sure if your companions won't ignore the thoughts generated by that place, and try to pick the seeds anyway - he explained. - There is a reason why only the two of us went there. That reason is, I trust you to do the right thing.

- Then trust me right now, because I'm doing the right thing - I said, and did a few consecutive shadow walks.

The first one was to get to Druoag, grab him, and take him to that strange place. Then I returned, got to Will, and took him there too.

I guess I left The Great One room to react, but he didn't try to stop me, so in the end, the three of us were standing among the gigantic roots of the world tree. The view took breaths away from both the alien and the human.