“Forgive me, I didn’t see you there…” Someone walked right into Lena in the middle of a road. The man’s eyes were almost white.

“Not a problem…” Lena steadied him as he seemed a bit shaky. “Where are you headed?”

“That way…” He pointed forward absent-mindedly. “Or that… does it really matter?”

“It depends where you want to arrive,” Lena said slowly, watching him.

“Arrive? But I just left… I’ve got to find them… Arriving will come then.”

“Come with us,” Lena suddenly said. “There is a campsite nearby and we were just going to stop for the night anyway.” She glared at her companions and they understood – say nothing. It was only about midday and they had not intended to make camp just then…

“Is it evening already?” The man turned to Lena, and she thought that perhaps he had gone completely blind. “Well, then I shall spend the night by your fire.”

They set up camp, roasted some meat and had a long, leisury meal. Truth be told, they could all use half a day of rest. When the sun was setting, the man got up and watched it set.

“This is their campfire, I’ll find them there!” He said with joy, pointing at the sun. “Thank you for letting me stay! Now I know which way to go!”

He picked up his pack and was ready to set off towards the setting sun, but Lena convinced him to rest with them till the morning.

“I shall show you the way, I’ve seen it now,” she repeated. “It is too dangerous to travel at night.”

The man finally agreed and sat down again. Coffee was brewed, figs and quinces laid out for supper.

“A quince! I need a ripe quince!” The man picked one up. “May I? This is what has been lacking! This will restore my sight!”

He bit into the fruit, it was juicy and tasty. Having eaten it, he opened his pack and retrieved an old tome – an ancient arcane book that was glowing with black light. Lena breathed in sharply – that was not a benevolent tome.

“This!” The man stroke the book with reverence. “‘On the Transference of Souls’ it is called. It teaches a spell that allows to bring objects from beyond the Rift. I have been reading it, see… But every time I turn a page, my eyes grow dimmer and dimmer. May I have another quince?”

“By all means, help yourself to the fruit,” Lena smiled. “But what do you want to bring from beyond the Rift, if I may be so bold?”

“Exotic wares, furnishings, spices… I am a merchant, you see. But I have failed to provide enough for my wife and daughter, and so they left me… It is them that I seek. As well as the second part of this book.”

“The second part?”

“There is a note here, on the last page…” He turned over the book. “‘To be continued…’ It means there’s more. The spell in this tome doesn’t bring any goods, I tried… my wife and daugher were right, of course, I am but a failure… I used this spell, but all I got was a handful of grains of sand… It was then that my wife and daughter left me.”

“How sad!” Lena exclaimed. “What did they say?”

“Nothing, nothing at all…” The man shook his head. “They never said anything, in fact. They kept repeating they were happy with the life that we had, but our house was common, they had no jewels, no rich garments that they should have had… Oh, we never lacked food, but they deserved so much more… I failed to provide it.”

A heavy silence fell as no one knew what to say. After a while the man continued.

“They never asked for any riches… It was I who wanted to provide, but could not. They begged me to throw away this book because it was hurting my sight. But how could I? This is my chance for the life I always wanted to build…” He leafed through the book. “If only I had the second tome… I could then bring wonderous goods from beyond the Rift and make us rich! Then find my wife and daughter… or find them first, then cast the spell… whichever way…”

“Did they say where they went?” Lena asked softly.

“They didn’t…” The man looked up in surprise. “In fact, I didn’t see them go… They didn’t take a single thing for the road… How odd… I was trying to cast this spell… They kept saying don’t do it… then… all I got was a handful of sand, and they were gone…” He paused, reliving the scene in his memory. “But now I’ve seen the way. I’ll set off in the morning, you’ll show me which way to go. I’ve seen their campfire, it isn’t that far… I’ll find them. And then I shall only need the second tome…”