The withering realm was being claimed by three creatures. Their goals could be said to be incompatible.
One was Veleter. The void monster wanted to weaken the realm, spread magic thin until the void encroached. He wanted more, weaker monsters unknowingly stretching the limited amount of mana left for him, to oblivion.
Another was Calisle. That... bone dragon... actually a wyvern wanted to kill all humans. He didn't care for the amount of mana and only wanted to crack the human shelter open, no matter the means.
The last one was the humans themselves.
"Who cares what they want!" The human said, his arms stretched.
I finished taking his measurements, then went back to the fabric. A light tunic was his wish, so light as to practically be a veil.
"Some say they wish for the realm to disappear." This way their shelter would become the only realm. "But I believe they want the amount of mana to grow enough for them to return and rule the land once more."
"Screw them!" The teenager laughed. "They fled, they don't get a say!"
"How is this?"
He looked at the ample sleeves and frowned. I ripped the cloth away.
"The realm needs humans and I heard Earth is a terrible place. Am I wrong?"
"It has coffee, it's not all bad!"
"You will have to do with magical coffee instead."
And salmon and avocado salad, for some reason. The breakfast tray had been left untouched on the living table, safe for that salad.
"And now?"
"Why do I even need a t-shirt?"
"Who wears a jerkin without a tunic?!"
"It's a sheperd's vest! You just don't know your classics!"
He needed sleeves! So I could put seals so he would not radiate magic all over the place! Not that it mattered for another two weeks or so and given that, I just gave up.
The human triumphed, arms crossed, in his brand new clothes. The mirrors smiled back at him from all sides.
He then watched me bring out a cape made of the golden fur of a cheetah and cocked his head.
"Not all monsters will attack you on sight. For those it's better if you look more like them. How about a lion costume?"
I put the cape on my armored shoulder plate, then picked up the heavy mane and cheetah mask. That made him burst in laughter.
"You want me to walk around dressed as an animal?!"
"Only if you want to befriend monsters."
A small subset of monsters. For all the time we spent looking at records I had only talked about mana and numbers, not the cultures that had developed out there.
Still, he threw his reluctance away, picked the cape and wrapped himself. I fixed it with a heavy brooch, added the mane and before the mask he spinned around, hopped a bit to check the weight.
"Okay, not bad! Nzinga the kitten-killer! The manliest purr in the wild and it doubles as a sleeping bag!"
"The cape breaks your human shape. The mane signals peace. As for the mask," I looked at it, "I guess it's to look harmless."
"Like a badger!"
Without sealing his magic this was all more or less symbolic, monsters would still crave for it, but I was planning for the long term.
Which meant it was time to show him the pendant.
It appeared in my armored hand and dangled there a moment. Four layers of interwoven silver, a chain of gems and a golden inline, all to stabilize the amber stone at its end. The culmination of several lifetimes.
He removed the mask and raised an eyebrow.
"And this is the last piece. This pendant should extend your life for up to a year."
Rather than answer anything, the teenager started to unlace his jerkin.
"It draws mana from two places. One is a human reserve of mana. The other comes from anti-magic. That second source is where Calisle resides, meaning the more magic you draw from there, the easier it is for him to control you."
He finished taking it off, then approached with the lace.
"This is why the mana it draws is limited..."
I watched him snatch the amber stone from the pendant, breaking it loose, then attach it to the lace and attach it to his neck.
"There! Much better!"
And he was proud.
After two seconds I continued: "This is why the mana it draws is limited, but you are free to sell your soul to Calisle."
Right on queue, the mocking voice rose from that amber stone.
"I have no taste for tainted essence, but, lamb, if you tire of playing our friend's game, become my ally or my tool. Your tie to the haven could open the doors of absolution."
"He wants you to help him kill all humans." I briefly clarified.
"Eh, buddy," the teenager told the stone, "use the mute button." And back to me: "So! Clothes, costume, pendant! Let's go already!"
He was right. I gestured for the teenager to follow me and guided him back to the balcony. Dawn had already risen, a quiet morning that made the ice glimmer softly. For the second time he got to look around at the outside.
It finally registered for him that he was twelve hundred meters above the ground.
Past the moonstone slab was an abyss and the dry desert. And far down in the rock and sand approached the Parao.
All he could really see from that distance was the sandy sails forming layers of circular roofs over the wooden ship. But really he wasn't looking there, his attention turned to the icy mountain and the land he could discern beyond it.
At the mount's base the ice melted to water, then the water quickly evaporated further in. It formed a circle around a vast, kilometers-spanning pattern of ocher lines in the rock.
A gigantic area flat and empty, safe for the ritual that deprived it of magic.
All I cared for was the approaching ship.
"This is the Parao." I said from the platform's edge. "That ship was crafted to carry humans around the dying realm. It will transport you wherever you wish, protect you and provide you with comfort."
Earthworks. A smaller moonstone platform detached itself and with the guardrail melting, it offered itself as a lift. The human approached, looked at it, looked down then at it again.
"Or you can simply jump." I admitted.
Portals, wings, the realm was his oyster right now.
"I'm just taking the view! Not every day I get to see stuff like that!"
He had time to enjoy the view. The ship was still approaching and, even once it would be done skimming this place, he would still be able to catch up with it.
"How come that ship is there, you said there were no more humans!"
"There are no more humans."
"Then who is onboard?"
"Monsters."
He pondered that, put the mask on his face and approached the edge again. The floating platform a half-meter away from his feet.
"And this place?" The human turned back again. "Feels like a nuke fell here!"
"It's just a ritual to draw mana, nothing special."
"Alright then! Time to go save the world! Realm! Whatever! I'll get your happy ending, trust me!"
He finally jumped, landed on the circular platform that immediately went down, slowly, toward the Parao. As it did the moonstone slowly flaked away, leaving a trail that faded in the sky.
I watched him depart, made sure both the pendant and the brooch responded and then turned back into the lair.
All the decorum around me quickly faded in time, replaced by the rough icy surfaces on which mad scribblings endured and the walls of stalagtites. With just what magic the human had shedded here in a few hours I had enough to conduct my studies for a couple days.
The rest would be slowly devoured outside by the ongoing ritual.
So I sat and summoned the anti-magic sphere.
"Tireless as ever, dear friend." The mocking voice surfaced. "Your new prey has fallen to your charms faster than the rest! I am telling him all about your trade and that only thrills him!"
"Focus on the link." I reminded the wyvern.
For once, the beast did not protest, did not offer to dissect anyone but joined me in my efforts. We had become uncannily close in that labor.
Humans, even after leaving their shelter, were still tied to it somehow. This prevented any other to follow after. What caused it? Once more I fruitlessly wondered, what caused it?!
How could you open a portal to a place not even the mana drain could reach?! Bring someone from there, but not send him back or go yourself, and it locked upon passage? It had to be a spell, a human construct and if so, it could be used.
And if it was not human then that could only be an effect of the mana drain.
So we tracked the human's trace, through the pendant, to detect that link and understand the spell. The key to a haven or the answer to the drain. Two monsters from two sides of magic sought a solution only one would enjoy.
"How interesting..." The skeletal wyvern chimed in again. "He too refused the offer, yet is supportive of my efforts. A human that wishes ill on his kin, if anything it took too long to happen."
"That's noise. He would help a spider weave its web."
"And the fly escape it. It is from such fools that the embers of war burn the brightest. Yes, there is more than defiance in his words. He genuinely understands my hatred."
As long as the human refused, that was fine. I had yet to see any human pick immortality over his own species; they only hesitated as time shortened and even then, had little left to bargain.
Still, the wyvern kept asking, hoping against all reason for a different answer.
So what was the human doing?
He and that beast had been chatting all the way down. Now the platform, thin as glass, was skimming the rock and sand toward the ship.
And the Parao was close enough that he could make every detail.
Under the crossed masts and their mass of sails lay the central hull whose keel plowed through the ground. Three rows of fins on its sides floated like oars in rhythm. Two more keels flanked those, forming tall wooden plates to the ship's side. They glid on the surface, barely causing a trail.
A small castle at the bow, before the stem, was dwarved by the stern that had two superimposed.
Music and perfume exhuded but barely from that upper deck.
At the end of its course the platform rose, the moonstone almost consumed, and reached the deck where the human saw humanoid beasts approaching, a dozen of them.
They were still feral, but human enough in shape to hardly hunch and wear refined clothes. Most were lizards, the rest batracians and predators with just one horned hare among them. Their beastly eyes were full of awe and rage.
"A human!" - "Make place!" - "It's a human!" - "How can it be?!" - "Look at his arms!"
Their whispers still reached the teenager who hopped on the deck, let the platform behind him break to nothing and hailed the troup.
"Sup! I'm Nzinga the kitten-herder! I forgot my ticket at home, I'm VIP!"
"Of course, master!" One lizard hurried to bow. "Let me show you the ship!"
"Nzinga will do fine, man."
"Of course, master Nzinga!"
And the beast bowed again, only to be hassled by the others. The vied to be the ones guiding the humans, resolved this before he could really intervene. The human-looking lizard had prevailed.
As the ship turned and sailed in the distance, the human discoveredall the lavish luxury monsters were capable of, present onboard, from pools to balls to buffets and theaters at the centerline, bordered by spacious cabins with more beds than he knew what to do with.
A clean paradise of gold, silk and satin that he joyfully joined.