Upon this desolate void, nothing remained. The light had long died out. The stars had dusted the heavens. The universe had gone cold. Yet, this floating rock persisted, as if a final act of defiance against the cosmos.


    Like an egg that''d already bore its chicken, only the shell had remained. Yet, the chicken had yet to fully emerge. Confined to a solemn rock, the final vestiges of life struggled on.


    <hr>


    "There have been a lot of reported theft cases lately", an officer says, grimly plonking a stack of papers on an old, oaken desk.


    "Are we just gonna sit back and let this happen?"


    A dark eyed, grizzly looking man slowly raises his eyes to meet the officer''s.


    "Remember the case of the soul engine?", the older man says.


    "I.. Do."


    "The cultists have become significantly more active since then. It''s been reported that they''ve stolen around three thousand pounds of gold in the last week. I assume these papers list the thefts?"


    "Exactly sir! We can''t just sit around doing nothing! We have to stop them or at the very least, catch them!"


    "Don''t rush to your words so quickly. Why do you think they''re stealing the gold?"


    "Perhaps they need money to fund other activities, sir? They''ve been active for quite some time. Perhaps their funds have run dry?"


    "Perhaps. What else is gold used for?"


    The officer''s eyes glistened with realisation. Then, their heart darkened.


    "A conductive for.."


    The scruffy older man lit a cigarette and puffed deeply.


    "We''ve been observing this cult for several years now, and not once have they been found to steal."


    With his idle hand, he flipped a coin with a hooded figure engraved on it between his fingers.


    "Not once."


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    A cork-board nailed into the wall lay heavily populated, strings connecting several pictures. The soul engine incident. The heist of Al-Kapur. The scarlet witch massacre.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The cultists. Tainted mana. Gold. Something was missing. Although the uses aligned, the objective still remained unclear.


    "We can''t arrest them yet. We need to observe, we need a clue. They won''t talk. We''ve tried that, remember? This is bigger than just theft. If we screw this up, there might be hell to pay."


    <hr>


    Vincent and Fellabee made their way back into the center of the fossilised mound.


    "Hey kid, ya ever played pictionary?", Sam said.


    A cocoon lay cracked upon a still bed of rock.


    "Once or twice.. I liked it a lot actually.. Just never had the chance to play it more.. I guess now I might never get the chance again..."


    Beyond the cocoon, and beyond the once bed of writhing mass, right within the center of it all, a very narrow hole could be seen.


    "It''s all about seein'' what the other person wants you to see. And to do that, ya gotta give over control."


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "This is it..", I said, with a taciturn expression.


    "No seeing what''s down there though.. That hole''s tiny.. I thought it''d be much bigger", I added.


    "What makes you think this is it, Vince?"


    Fellabee poked at the tiny hole with an unimpressed gaze.


    "I mean.. Look at it.. What''s it supposed to be anyway?"


    "Well.. If my hunch is right, it might lead us out of here.."


    "Hmm.. Why do you think that??", Fellabee said, her gaze intensifying.


    "Well, if we got here through the alleyway, maybe finding something similar to that could help.. And I feel like this hole might open up to something bigger."


    "You just feel it?? Where''s this coming from Vince?", Fellabee''s tone growing slightly annoyed.


    "Wait, I forgot to tell you?? I had a vision Fel, and this place.. It feels creepily familiar.. As if it''s the same place my vision took place in.."


    Fellabee''s eyes widened in shock.


    "You had a vision too?!"


    "Yeah Fel, the moment I touched your Linker-"


    Suddenly, a thought popped into my head.


    "Hey Fellabee, can I see your veins for a moment?"


    "My veins??"


    "Yeah.. After you fell unconscious, your veins went red. So did mine just before I fell into the vision.."


    "Hmm, okay you can check"


    Fellabee stretched out her arm. As she did, her clothing peeled back like the tide receding from a rocky cliff face. Threads unraveled themselves, and the dark gold licked its way back into the unknown.


    "Woah, that''s beautiful! What the hell.. Did you do that Fellabee??"


    "Do what?? The clothes thing?"


    "Yeah"


    "No.. Not really.. Maybe it responds to us?"


    "Oh.. That''s kinda creepy.. But cool too I guess.."


    As her skin came into view, sprawling golden lines mapped out her every vein. It reminded me a lot of Kintsugi. It was actually quite beautiful..


    "Woah.. Do you see this Fellabee??"


    "Yeah.. Let me see the veins on your arms too Vince"


    I reached my arm up to her. My clothing unraveling similarly to the call of inspection.


    "Huh, golden veins as well. You know, when you mentioned the red veins, it reminded me of a rare disease we have back in my world. We couldn''t figure out the exact cause.. But we did discover that it has something to do with mana that wasn''t produced by the planet directly. This gold though.. I''ve never seen it before.."


    "Wait, are you serious!?"


    "What??"


    "In my vision, there was this thing called a soul engine that could produce what someone called "tainted mana". It worked by consuming people''s souls.."


    An illuminating light exploded throughout Fellabee''s mind.


    "Vincent, I have a crazy idea. Wanna go inside each other''s minds and see these visions first-hand?"