Steve placed down a lever on the ground near the entrance to the bunker and flipped it; causing unseen redstone-powered pneumatics to push up grass, soil, and stone into place; leaving behind a patch of grassy meadow floor whose subtle seams would have made even the most discerning lawn gardener impressed. Steve then dug up the lever, and followed behind Shadow and Jennifer as the three made their way through the rain-dampened forest back to the village.

Shadow parted ways with Steve and Jennifer, and the duo resolved to find Kay and Warnado to let them know about their new discovery that the glowing stone could be used to inhibit magic.

First, they checked the tavern. The old wooden door to the tavern was left open invitingly, or perhaps as a way to let in some fresh air. The tavern was quiet and almost empty of patrons, aside from a single man sitting at the counter.

Then, they checked the inn. Kay's room was unoccupied. The usual evening crowd was in the dining commons, but there was no one familiar who they could probe for information about Kay and Warnado's whereabouts.

"Well, this is inconvenient." Steve said.

"I guess it was bound to happen eventually," Jennifer said. "Doesn't Kay usually hang about town?"

"He did buy a crossbow recently. Maybe he's taking some practice shots."

As it turned out, Kay was, in fact, in a small library at the edge of the village, which up to this point Steve and Jennifer were not aware existed. Judging from the staircase and the rooms, it seemed like it used to be a house at some point. Kay seemed to be busily searching through the shelves.

"What are you looking for?" Steve asked.

"Some friendly villager working in a rather unremarkable bakery said this library had a section on military tactics." Kay pulled out a book, looked at its cover, frowned, shoved the book back in, and continued looking. "But as far as I can tell, this building's owner was not particularly keen on keeping things organized. Or perhaps there was an attempt at order at some point, but then the owner gave up when faced with the chaos of this world's new reality? Since when was I this ponderous? Why am I reading this book if I literally can't understand a word of what it's saying? Blasted alternate dimensions and their confusingly similar letters!" Kay shoved another book back into the shelf. "Anyways, how's it going?"

"We did some research," Steve said. "Some of the materials we've mined in the local caves have useful properties. One of them seems like it might be useful for your investigation."

Kay turned his head eagerly toward Steve. "You could not have come at a better time. Although this isn't the best place to discuss it, given the library being open to the public…" Kay gestured subtly up towards the second floor with his head.

Steve looked up and saw Fristad standing just behind the second floor's cracked green painted bannister. Fristad held a book just below his shoulders. He averted eye contact with Steve and looked down towards the book in his hands, attempting to make himself look busy. Steve studied Fristad's face for a moment, deep in thought.

"Agreed," Steve said. "Let's go somewhere more private."

"Warnado's somewhere in the back," Kay said. "I'll go get him."

Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse Steve, Kay, and the others vanish from the library's front door. I close the library book, feeling the historian's steady narrative of the early days of some feudal society slowly fade from my mind. I carefully study the engraving of a house on the book's front cover, then stand on my toes and place the book laying down on the edge of a high shelf. Like Kay said, this library is a mess. With any luck, that book will still be there when I get back.

I feel an urgency growing within me. I step down the library's strangely homey staircase, noting carefully the sound of the wood beneath my boots. I walk to the front of the library and slowly open the door.

It is raining outside. I listen and hear faint murmurs of people in the village, but it's unclear if they are familiar voices. I quickly step out into the rain and close the library door behind me, keeping my body close to the walls.

I look out toward the expanse of farmland and the distant trees beyond it. Then, I turn my head left and right, noting the buildings and the lack of people outside.

I quickly walk around a corner and look down the road. A single child runs by, carrying something in a cloth, with a hand over their head as measly protection from the admittedly mild rain. I think I can faintly hear Kay making conversation, but I can't tell what direction his voice is coming from. I step further into the village, observing carefully with each new step.

"It wasn't really that bad," I hear Kay say, a brightness to his voice suggesting a level of pride. "I've gotten a far worse scar from Astro… two, actually... and he didn't even apologize! Besides, nobody becomes an expert at anything without a considerable amount of effort and a few embarrassing mistakes along the way."

I slow my pace. Kay's voice is getting a bit too loud. I hope they aren't walking towards me.

Finally, Kay's voice fades, and I turn my head around the next building. The group is walking away from me, same as before. I think they are headed for the inn.

I continue to follow them, keeping near corners of buildings and hoping they don't turn around and see me. As I predicted, they finally enter the inn. I wait a few moments before walking through the door behind them.

The dining area is packed and loud, making overhearing the unsuspecting targets of my eavesdropping difficult. I peer very briefly toward the dining area, but I can only file away a few faces of strangers in my mind before I fear someone will see me and head up the staircase.

The dining crowd is quieter up here in the halls, but I still can't make out voices coming from the rooms. I walk up to a door and put my ear against it. There is not a single sound behind it. I lean against another door. Nothing. Another door? Still nothing. Why do I even bother? What if they're not here, and I saw someone else walking through that inn door?

"Check every door," the Book commands. "Do not stand here with doubt and rumination as Steve plots to undermine you."

I do as it says, listening at each door briefly but thoroughly. To my surprise, my efforts are finally rewarded, and I hear Steve's familiar voice through one of the doors. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The Book is right, as usual.

Steve's words are muffled by the sound of the downstairs din. I feel a small spark of anger that makes me want to go downstairs and shut them all up. But now is not the time for that. The next words Steve says could be very important. I listen carefully, translating the voice from the commotion.

"We can talk about that a bit more when the rest of the group gets back," Steve says. "Anyways, there was another material we found - let me pull it out so you can see it."

Steve's voice fades from beneath the inn patron din. It's hard to tell if he's whispering, or just rummaging through his pants. I hope he's still audible. I keep listening in anticipation.

"There," Steve says. "As you can see, it's some sort of glowing rock. It's somewhat rare, about twice as common as diamond, but it seems to only be found near humid ravines."

The Book's voice surfaces. "I cannot sense any magic coming from the rock Steve is claiming to hold, assuming it is a rock at all. It is possible the object could be mundane, Ender, or some other form of substance unknown to our world."

"But it can be stretched a lot farther if it's ground into a powder and brewed into potions," Steve continues.

"Of course…" the Book says.

I hear a door open behind me.

"Are you spying on someone or something?" a male voice says. "I am pretty sure that's illegal."

Frustration and fear flashes in my mind. I turn around to face the man. He's an old man of below-average height and rather heavily dressed, perhaps to compensate for his sensitivity to the cold. A sword hangs from his hip by a rope.

"Or, at least, it would have been illegal back in the society that I was once a part of…" The man's eyes widen as he realizes what sort of man he's talking to. Maybe he saw the look of violent anger in my face. He wants to take his words back. Of course, he knows it's too late.

I sprint toward him. He stumbles walking backward but doesn't get very far. I cover his mouth before he cries out. It only takes half a suggested thought for a dimensional rift to envelope us, rip us from the walls of the inn hallway, and plant us at the edge of a wheat field next to a farmhouse.

You could have waited ten minutes! Maybe twenty! Twenty more minutes in your bedroom and I would have been gone! But you had to be there, didn't you? You had to barge in at that one critical moment and jeopardize my efforts to clean up this whole mess!

I wish I didn't have to kill this man. But I have no choice. I feel my hand rise and aim at the man's head. I let that horrible heat flow through me, and the man's head disintegrates in a cloud of blood and violet flame. Before his body can fall to the ground, I feel myself pulled away from the farmhouse, to the edge of the village.

I feel frustrated as I imagine how many words Steve probably said in the time I've already been gone. But letting the man live and spread rumors of my eavesdropping could have been worse. I suppose the Book teleported me to the edge of town because the sound of another teleportation would have made me even more suspicious.

I sigh. I guess running wouldn't hurt.

I run back to the inn, the rain wetting my face and making me squint. I almost slip on the mud-slicked bricks on one of the inner town roads, and have to slow down a bit.

Finally, I make it back to the front door of the inn. I stand still for a moment.

I just killed someone.

I push through the dread. I open the inn door, walk up the stairs, and stand in front of the door where Steve and the others are. I try to listen through the door again.

"Do not lean against the door," the Book orders.

I lean back away from the door and see with shock that my armor has left spots of blood on the surface of the door.

"The void will remove the paint, but there will be no blood left behind."

I implement the Book's suggestion, letting small bits of silver light embed into the surface of the door where the blood has touched it, until it burns those parts away into purple smoke. I try to burn the blood off my armor, then realize that won't work as the fire bends away and turns purple. I suppose the Book would have told me to do it if it were possible. I feel a bit of heat from my use of the void linger in my arm.

The Book observes with satisfaction. "Good. You can use the former guest's bedroom as a quick escape when they leave. Warnado's ability to sense magic is not yet strong enough to detect you."

"Former guest?" That's quite a euphemistic way of describing someone who we literally just murdered.

I lean my ear against the door again, conservatively only letting my head rest upon it this time.

"The hard part, aside from being there at the right time, is getting close enough to the Dreamweaver to use it. You can't exactly activate it at a distance," Warnado's oddly inflected voice muses.

"Fair point," Jennifer responds. "In other circumstances, Steve and I could make an automatic trap, but we don't have a lot of space to work with, and we need to be subtle."

I sense the Book observing eagerly. "The trap seems like the centerpiece of their plan. We need to listen closely. The material they mentioned must play a role. The fact we could not sense the material could mean it is the basis for an advanced invisibility potion, but given that they are concerned about being detected, that is highly unlikely. A mundane material is unlikely to be a threat. Which just leaves ender, or something unknown. Assuming ender, it is likely the material prevents teleportation. In that case, they likely intend to use it in splash potion form. That would explain why they need to use it at close range. We need to prepare for that possibility."

"I'm getting a few ideas," Warnado says. "Shadow has been teaching me how to better control my magic. I'm still wrapping my head around a lot of it, but I think I could create a spell that would buy us the time we need. I just need to practice it."

"That sounds promising," Jennifer says. "Any idea what kind of spell it would be?"

"I think…. some combination of stealth and disorientation," Warnado says. "I'm not sure if I will be able to concentrate on the spell and throw the splash potion at the same time, so someone else might have to do that part. And we definitely need a backup plan."

Huh. So it is a splash potion...

"Backup plan? Strategic collaboration between multiple individuals? That sounds exactly within my purview," Kay remarks with enthusiasm. "Warnado can formulate a spell and give us a risk factor come the end of the day. Meanwhile, the rest of us can work on a few ideas for how to deploy the potion. Maybe survey our surroundings. Sounds like a good foundation."

"I agree," Steve says. "Let's reconvene with Warnado in the early afternoon, to check on his progress and tweak our plan as needed."

"I guess there's no time to waste," Warnado says. "I'll go get started magicking pronto. Wish me luck. Hopefully I won't step on a lego."

I contemplate for a moment what a 'lego' is, but then the necessities of the moment get the best of me, and I quickly tiptoe into the empty inn room whose now dead occupant I choose not to think about.

A door opens, a pair of footsteps creaks the inn floor. I stand still for a bit with patience, and soon after I hear the footsteps and voices of the other three conspirators. Once their voices fade, I slowly step out into the hall, and contemplate what to do next.