“Miss Alice!” Misha screamed. She attempted to leap into the fire, but I grabbed the hem of her clothes and pulled her back.
“Calm down, Misha.”
“B-But, Miss Alice just—”
I completely understood Misha’s panic. I, too, would have lost my composure entirely by now if Alice hadn’t spoken before being engulfed by the flames.
“Calm down,” I repeated. These words were half for Misha’s benefit and half for my own reassurance. I let go of her and slowly approached the flames.
“Kagali, has this ever happened before?”
Kagali was in a daze, but hearing her name seemed to bring her back to reality. “N-No, it hasn’t.”
“Mireille, what do you make of this?”
“The flow of the mana...very much resembled that of a teleportation spell.”
“I agree. It was close to that of Gate or Transfer. However, the mana concentration was so unbelievably high that this couldn’t possibly have been human magic.”
“If it wasn’t a person, then what could have teleported Alice?” Tida asked.
“A spirit, most likely... In this particular case, I imagine it must have been Salamander, the archspirit who gave this fire to Mr. Gaien in the first place,” I said.
“The archspirit did that?! But why?!” Kagali asked incredulously.
To the rest of us, Salamander was simply a spirit with particularly strong mana. But to a Spiritanism adherent like Kagali, Salamander was a god. I had to avoid speaking badly of him.
“I doubt Salamander has any ill will toward Alice or us. While spirits have a sense of self, they’re said to be genuine, innocent beings. I imagine that’s also the case for archspirits,” I said.
“Th-That’s true! Archspirits have always watched over us dwarves! They’re not wicked!” Kagali exclaimed.
“Still, the question remains: Why would the archspirit take Alice away?” Mireille asked.
“Considering what she said, it seemed like Salamander was asking her for help,” I replied.
“What should we do, then? Wait here for her to return?” Misha asked.
“Well...”
Misha’s suggestion was sensible. Archspirits were likely friendly to humans, and if Salamander truly had no intention of hurting Alice, he would likely return her to this place once she had helped him. But I couldn’t entirely discount the possibility that things wouldn’t go that well. What if Salamander asked something too difficult of Alice? What if there was an unexpected incident, and she got hurt even if he didn’t intend for that to happen? Besides, we were all just making assumptions at this point. Perhaps the one who’d taken her away wasn’t even Salamander in the first place.
“Sitting back and waiting isn’t a good idea,” I said. “We also need to search for Mr. Gaien, so we’ll head to the Sacred Mountain as planned. If Salamander is truly the one who summoned her, then Alice will be there too. However, Kagali, Tida, Misha, and I will be the only ones going. Mireille and Lunoa, I want you to wait here in case she returns.”
There was a chance Alice would be teleported back here before we returned, so I didn’t want to leave this place unattended. Everyone agreed with that course of action, and I confirmed the plan with a nod.
Strangely enough, I wasn’t anxious or angry like I had been during Alice’s previous kidnapping. I didn’t know why I felt this way—it was completely irrational—but I was convinced the flames that had taken Alice away would protect her.
✦ ✦ ✦
After the flames flickered in front of her eyes, Alice found herself in a completely different place. The first thing she saw was a large snake whose body was made of blazing fire.
“Did you call me here?” Alice asked. She did not hear a response, but the answer to her question somehow popped into her mind.
“Yes, I did.” The fiery snake’s words echoed through her thoughts. “I apologize for summoning you in such a way.”
“It’s okay! You waited for me to answer before you brought me here!”
Right before she’d walked into the fire, Alice had felt the creature’s words enter her mind for the first time. He’d told her that he needed her help.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
“My words can’t reach humans and dwarves, so I wish to borrow your mouth to speak. I’m in a predicament, and if my body perishes, disaster will fall upon the land I protect too. In order to avoid this, I’ll need the help of humans.”
“Okay, I get it! I will help!”
“Thank you, young sister.”
Right after these words beamed themselves into Alice’s mind, she was struck with a sudden bout of drowsiness. She lost her grip on reality, feeling as though she had slipped into a dream. Her body started moving without being driven by her own will. Was the snake moving her body for her?
Alice was in a cave. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see lava flowing like a river. It was probably very hot, but somehow she wasn’t overheating. She wondered if that was thanks to the snake.
After she walked a short distance, she found herself in front of a sizable boulder that seemed like it might have fallen from the ceiling. The rock had trapped the leg of a middle-aged dwarf.
“Urgh... Is someone there?” the dwarf asked. Alice’s body moved to stand in front of him, and he stared at her in surprise. “A wee lass in the depths of this cave?! Where did ye come from, child? No, that ’ardly matters! There be monsters down here! Ye must run away! Run away, ye hear me?!”
Alice—or rather the snake—ignored him and brought her hand to the boulder. Flames flew out of her palm, disintegrating it.
“M-Magic?! I think that was spirit magic...”
The being controlling Alice’s body looked down at the bewildered dwarf. “I am Salamander, the archspirit who guards this land. I am simply borrowing this body at the moment,” he said through Alice’s voice.
“The archspirit...”
“Dwarf, there is something I must tell you.”
Gaien heaved himself to a standing position, and the two walked over to an open cavern nearby. Out of consideration for the dwarf, who was hobbling due to his leg injury, Alice took small, slow steps.