Let began to whisper now and glanced around conspiratorially. "I have seen several settlements where the Nightmares carried out their havoc. Poisoned water, violent storms, and again and again stories of monsters rising out of the darkness…”

  Dio nodded.

  “That really does sound horrific! But if it is so dangerous, why did you become a merchant? Why do you travel around instead of staying with your people? Despite their behavior? I imagine they still could have at least proteted you?” he asked.

  Let shrugged.

  “Well, what can I say? I am fascinated by hearing such scary reports. And I cannot do that if I stay with the others, because they tend to take matters into their own hands. Too destructive for my taste, I'd never get to hear a new tale again! You know, Dio, I prefer traveling alone and discovering new things for myself. And I can tell you, I have already heard things that would make your jaw drop,” Let laughed and waved Wes over to get another beer.

  “What kind of stories?” Dio asked, now genuinely curious.

  Let savored his drink and chuckled softly. “Ah, the interesting part. What would you like to hear? I have been to so many places. Near the Radiant Monastery, by the sheer cliffs of the Zenith Mountains, and even along the sandy coasts of the Azure Sea. And I always listened, always observed. Oh, what wonderful tales I have heard…”

  Dio had to restrain himself from eagerly asking about the regions Let had mentioned. The names alone held an immense fascination for him, and his desire to explore the Dream surged stronger than ever before. He let it fall into his blindness and soon it got better, at least a bit. Still, he neded at least some information!

  Even if it might be lies!

  “The Zenith Mountains sound intriguing. Is there perhaps something you could tell me about them? Something exciting, maybe…” Dio said with deliberate casualness and took a sip of his juice, not taking his eyes off the merchant.

  Let grinned briefly and leaned back. “Indeed, the Zenith Mountains. A fascinating region. What do you already know about them?”

  “Nothing. I have never heard of them.”

  Dio felt an indescribable pressure building inside him. He would have loved to ask a thousand questions, but he held himself back. He could not leave here. Brela was growing worse by the day, and he had promised Ray. It would be unwise to concern himself with things that were beyond his reach. Besides, there was once again something dark about Let that Dio could sense. Depravity. Hunger. Sadism. And flickering beneath it all a strange desperation and pain.

  “It already begins with the name, my dear Dio. Do you know why they are called the Zenith Mountains?”

  “No.”

  “Well, they are called that because they reach into the sky so far that they touch it. It is not really possible to describe how high the mountains rise, even for someone with my talent for descriptions. They tower higher and steeper than anything one could imagine. And up there, on their peaks, wrapped in snow and ice, that is where crystal mists are,” Let said, putting on a gentle smile that made Dio’s stomach twist.

  Still, he needed to know more.

  “Crystal mists? Who comes up with names like that?” he laughed a bit too loudly.

  Careful. Careful.

  Let’s grin widened.

  “The people who built their settlements nearby, of course. They live in caves that were carved, more or less artificially, into the mountain slopes, alongside mine shafts and plantations, at least when I was there. But who knows what it looks like now. Their caves might have grown and their tools evolved. The Dream changes, always…”

  This time, he truly seemed to lose himself in his thoughts. His voice grew high pitched once more but warm this time, lost in memories long gone, though suddenly he flinched and shook his head with a snort.

  “You know, Dio, they call them the crystal mists, because it is a white veil that begins to glitter in the light of the Sun. But it used to have another name, a more familiar name at that. They are the Voids.”

  Let had whispered the last word again, and Dio’s insides suddenly began to tremble. He had to concentrate on continuing to listen to Let’s words, because a part of him wanted to set out immediately, to travel until he found the mountains, climbed them, and looked into the Voids at the edge of the Realm… And this time the blindness did not help but betrayed him, almost crying at him to go there.

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  This swelling of his inner abyss tore him back out of his fantasies, and for the first time since their meeting, Let seemed somewhat unsure. For a brief moment, he looked at Dio in a very strange way, and the uneasy feeling Dio sensed in his presence ebbed a little and the warmth that sometimes shone through got more stable. But when the merchant continued speaking, it vanished once more.

  “You seem to know of the Voids, Dio. The boundaries of this Realm. I do not particularly wish to speak of them, as the accounts themselves are too unsettling even for me. But if you would like, I can tell you about the Zenith Mountains…”

  “Gladly, please,” Dio said hastily, and Let nodded quickly.

  “There are many mines there, as I said. Vac once arrived nearby and delved there. You have surely heard of him?” There was an honest curiosity in Let’s smile, and Dio hurried to shake his head.

  "No."

  Let'ts posture suddenly straightned and his voice became soft and melodic, seemingly imitating a female singer and he sung a short verse.

  "Digging deep, he found his way,

  Down the shafts with each new day.

  Gems and gold of marvel shone,

  Beneath the ground, in rock and stone."

  The change in intonation started to unsettle Dio more than Let's creepy manners and lying whispers, tough he also somehow sensed that addressing it would bring calamity.

  Not for me, though...

  The thought took him aback and the merchant continued in his high pitched voice, true marvel in his words for the first time.

  The truth for once?

  “Vac, the first Delver. The man who descended deeper into the chasms of the ancient Zenith Mountains than anyone else, in times when even fire had not yet shone. You know the fires, do you not? Well, it matters not for my story. Vac was a man of focus, ambition, and diligence. Where others still wandered in the murkiness and bland isolation of this Realm, he pushed into dark depths that had not even occurred to others as a thought. He extracted the first stones of Light, those stones the Sages now use to see who is worthy of the Radiance. To judge whom they take with them and train, who is Lucid enough… But that was after his time. They say he met the Goddess. You know of the Goddess, right?”

  Let’s eyes were almost greedy now, and Dio’s intuition was screaming at him to end the conversation, but he could not. This information, this new knowledge, refreshed him more than anything else. He hated it and knew that Let might use it somehow to do vile things, in some way, but he did not care. And he hated that. Still, it fed the blindness again, so why not indulge him?

  “A goddess? No, I have never heard of that either. you must think of me as quite the ignorant man,” he said, and the moment the words left his lips, he loathed himself for it.

  Let, however, seemed to have been waiting for exactly that, his voice now almost gentle and warm, yet at the same time shrill. Dio almost felt like talking to someone completely different and he had to fight the urge to stand up and leave this unnatural creature behind.

  But he needed to know...

  “The goddess Sisona, creator of the first fires. She supposedly inspired Vac. I do not know much about the first flames, but they are said to have stirred Vac’s heart. And within them was the desire for depth. For the darkness that slumbers in the shafts and caves and fissures, from which he could retrieve riches if only he pushed deep enough. There, he also found the Light, the Light of the crystals that are still used today to test affinity for the Light… But I repeat myself...”

  Dio listened, utterly absorbed. All the words Let spoke sounded enticing, and the things they carried with them sparked thousands of thoughts within him.

  What is down there, in the depths? Are there things in the Dream beneath the earth that have not yet been discovered? What dangers lay in wait, what treasures to find?

  “Does he still delve down into the shafts?” Dio asked, trying to distract himself from the surging thoughts that were beginning to take hold in his mind.

  Every word Let uttered contained new secrets, mysteries Dio wanted to unravel.

  “No. He is long gone,” Let said and stared at him intently, now with his usual deep voice again.

  All traces of warmth had vanished and his eyes pierced Dio as if the merchant evaluated whether to jump him in the next moment.

  “No, Dio. Vac was buried beneath rubble and awakened. The depths of the Dream did not wish to be explored, it seems, and during one of his advances he came too close to the Voids. They apparently do not extend only along the surface in the crystal mists, but also within the mountain itself. One day, he simply vanished, and only a tremor bore witness to his awakening. He was mourned, and to this day songs are still sung in his honor in the Zenith Mountains. When they follow his memory and delve, they sing about him. He brought forth the crystals of Light, and he pushed onward where no one else dared. True, he paid his price, but anyone who mines today would pay that same price a thousand times over. They are a fascinating people, the Delvers…”

  Let lost himself in thought and stared at the wooden wall beside them before collecting himself.

  “I have not spoken with many of them, Dio. But I believe they all share the same thing within them. A drive for adventure, for danger. Do you know what I mean?”

  The words suddenly hung in the air and struck Dio unexpectedly. Was this a trap? What did Let want to learn from him with such a question? Dio took another sip of grape juice and pushed a piece of the paté Wes had brought them into his mouth. He needed to buy time to think, but he did not have enough.

  “Adventure is certainly tempting, but I myself have no interest in it. I like the fields and fieldwork. Why would I venture out into the Dream and leave behind what I know? That what matters to me?”

  For a brief moment, images of Brela shot through his mind: Brela lying in her bed, right now, rotting and sick after more than a hundred days of pain. Images of Des, who, despite his newly youthful appearance, still found his way to her at this very moment. And images of Avee and Lot, who had left them long ago…

  Let remained silent for a long time, also pretending to be lost in his beer, but suddenly his face twitched and he smiled a horrid smile.