Before Bailey can elaborate, a massive earthquake interrupts us.


    We drop to the floor. Bailey dives under the table. Luckily, the hut is well-built, but even so, cracks spiderwebs across the walls.


    "Right then! Uh… maybe… maybe we should… call it a night," Bailey says, crawling out from under the table, dusting himself off. I wholeheartedly agree.


    Bailey quickly fashions a makeshift bed of vegetation on the floor and gestures for me to relax on it. He heads back to his bed in the vehicle outside.


    I lie on the makeshift bed late into the night. Then another earthquake hits.


    An aftershock?


    I head outside. Bailey is already there.


    "Goodness! Look at that! All that shakin'' today… this isn’t safe. Not anymore,” Bailey says, gesturing towards the widening cracks spreading across the ground. “Say… would you direct me to where Master Keyser kept his… cavern?”


    “I can show you where it is. But where will you be going after?” Looking into the dark jungle, I notice some small creatures flitting past.


    "Well now, I can''t rightly say about that just yet. But there''s always a new pot to stir, a new road to wander, eh?" Bailey returns to the hut and starts packing.


    “Can I come with you?” I follow him inside. “It’s always good to have a companion, right?”


    Bailey chuckles, shaking his head good-naturedly. "Just here for the grub, are we? Well, can''t say I blame ya! As long as you leave a bit for me, you''re welcome to tag along."


    I help Bailey pack until dawn. As the moons fade and the sun rises, we load everything into his vehicle—a flying contraption. "This little beauty set me back a pretty penny, I tell ya!"


    We lift off and head towards the beach.


    After a smooth touchdown on a dry patch near the shore, Bailey gathers some plants and camouflages his vehicle. He carefully sets up traps around it. "Best to be on the safe side, wouldn''t you say? Can''t be too careful out here. Besides, it''s the only way we’re gettin'' outta here!"


    We return to where I hid my submarine. Luckily, it’s still there. I drag it back into the sea, and we dive into the dark abyss. Bailey takes the controls this time, and he’s a much better pilot than I was. The submarine has a lot of functions I didn’t know about, like a map and autopilot. We return to Dr. Keyser’s cavern without much trouble.


    I thought I’d never come back… and here we are, a day later…


    Returning inside, I stop Bailey cautiously. Everything looks even messier than I left it.


    Had someone been here?


    After a closer look, I realize it’s because of the earthquakes. They’d shaken everything. There are also cracks in the floor. I flick on the lights.


    "So… this is where he made his home. Master Keyser… he suffered a good deal here," Bailey says, tears welling in his eyes.


    “There isn’t much up here. All his work, or what’s left of it, is in the lab downstairs,” I say, pointing to the painting.


    "That''s… that''s… by the stars… that’s it. The Annunaki treasure…" Bailey’s eyes widen, and he takes a shaky breath. "That''s… that’s the one they’ve been searchin'' for…"


    “What now?” I ask, confused. “This thing is a treasure? Of the gods?!”


    “Aye… it is,” Bailey says. He freezes for a moment, then nods slowly. “There was talk of a painting. Stolen from the Annunaki. They’ve been huntin’ for it for ages. Still are, I reckon.”


    “What’s so special about it?” I carefully touch the painting, taking a closer look. It just looks like a normal painting. The gold looks a little off, but that’s it.


    “I never knew… not a thing,” Bailey says, moving closer and peering at the painting, even sniffing it curiously. “The materials… goodness. The finest you could find, I’d wager. All that gold… it’s mixed with Adamantine. The whole frame, the canvas itself… Adamantine covered in gold. And there are other thin'' in there too… rare stones, even plants, by the looks of it.”The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    So… this Dr. Keyser is a master thief?!


    “So… should we take it? We could use some money for our travels, you know,” I say, smirking and rubbing my hands together.


    “No… no way,” Bailey says, shaking his head in disbelief. “It wouldn’t fit in any submarine, that’s for certain. And nobody’s got the coin for somethin’ like this. Even if they did… they wouldn’t dare. Not with the Annunaki still looking.”


    “We could just, you know, take the frame and melt it down or something.” I try to pry a piece of the frame off with my bare hands.


    “That’s… no. That isn’t right. Any way to work Adamantine, to shape it or anythin''… those are secrets kept tighter than a drum. Once it’s set in gold, it’s practically indestructible…” Before Bailey can finish, my hand slips.


    The scale on the back of my hand drags along the frame. Sparks fly everywhere. My hair flares up in iridescent light, dancing in the air.


    Hundreds of thousands of hair strands poke into the painting and frame, and the entire painting glows golden.


    My consciousness is yanked to the upper dimension, beneath the golden sphere.


    The visions are becoming clearer each time I’m here. Strands of iridescent strings extend from beneath me into the darkness below, like roots. Many golden strings from the sphere are entangled with these roots.


    Specks of light in many different colors rise up the roots. A scant few fade to translucence before exiting and falling back into the darkness.


    Most of the specks turn golden, and golden strings pull them into the sphere’s warm embrace.


    As I watch, the light from the iridescent strings suddenly intensifies. The roots multiply and thicken. Branch-like structures form around me, enveloping me in a small, tree-like formation.


    The next moment, I snapped back to reality.


    Bailey stood behind me, face ashen, still gawking at the painting. His jaw hung open wide enough to swallow a small melon.


    The painting looked… decidedly less shiny.


    “It’s… gone. All of it. Every last bit,” Bailey whispered, shuddering.


    “You mean… the Adamantine in this painting… is all gone?!” I clutched a handful of my hair, which promptly reverted to its usual silver.


    “That… that was probably more Adamantine than anyone’s seen in… well, years. Maybe even a decade,” Bailey said, slowly sinking to the floor behind me. His voice was heavy with despair.


    I joined him on the floor.


    My disappointment… was profound.


    A quick check of my bag reassured me. The two gold-plated adamantine bars were still safely tucked away.


    “I don’t know what Master Keyser made… but you… you’re somethin'' else entirely,” Bailey muttered, staring at me with wide, unfocused eyes.


    I couldn’t tell Bailey about the higher dimension and the afterlife. Some things were better kept to oneself… at least for now.


    We rested for a while. Bailey whipped up a quick snack in the kitchen. Turns out, the ingredients weren’t half bad. I was just a culinary disaster in this world.


    Back in the lab, it was still the chaotic mess I’d left it in.


    We approached the corner where Dr. Keyser’s dust lay.


    Bailey crumpled to his knees, a choked sob escaping him. “Master Keyser… I finally found you… after all this time…” His voice cracked, tears streaming down his face. “But… you’re… gone…” He buried his face in his hands.


    I stayed with Bailey for a long while. Eventually, the worst of his grief subsided, leaving a heavy silence in its wake.


    You will see him again… eventually…


    Bailey carefully gathered all the dust into a prepared vase. He carried the vase to a secluded corner, dug a small hole, and gently placed it inside. “Rest easy, Master… Thank you… for everythin''.”


    After everything, Bailey and I survey the wreckage of broken machinery. “Blimey,” Bailey says, shaking his head in astonishment. “This is somethin'' else entirely. This technology… it’s far beyond anythin'' I’ve ever encountered.”


    I show him a couple of books that had been indecipherable before.


    “These look like Mesoselenian. If I’m not mistaken… they might be about magic,” Bailey says, running his fingers lightly across the texts.


    “What is magic in this world?” Bailey had mentioned it before. The thought flickers through my mind: maybe magic is the key to freeing my consciousness.


    Bailey explains that humans can’t use magic. The Mesoselenians, however, can wield some magic-like abilities using adamantine, which is precisely why they’re kept far away from any adamantine mines. The Mesoselenians’ magic is fairly basic—physical enhancements, minor elemental manipulation—nothing that compares to current human technology.


    With adamantine being so valuable and rare, even the Mesoselenians mostly use human tech these days. They’re even starting to make their own technological advancements and share them with humans. Magic is only used by Mesoselenians on rare occasions, for traditional ceremonies or dire emergencies.


    The Annunaki, apparently, are the only ones who can truly use magic. Although Bailey’s never witnessed it himself, legends say they can perform feats that completely defy physics and reality.


    “What you can do… it isn’t somethin'' you see everyday. It goes against… well, everythin''. The Annunaki… they wouldn’t take kindly to somethin'' like that. They might… want to take a very close look,” Bailey says, his brow furrowing with concern.


    Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble…


    Another earthquake hits, much stronger than the last. The cracks in the ground widen dramatically.


    “RUN!” I yell, grabbing Bailey by the arm and making a dash for the gate. Just as we’re about to reach it, the ground beneath us crumbles away.


    “Ahhhh!!!!!!” We’re suddenly weightless, plummeting into the abyss.


    This stupid isekai! Talk about a cliché plot line!