Joel understood that the time had come to leave. The outcome of the battle, Nana's transformation, the power revealed by the house, and the ease with which the enemies had entered his refuge... everything pointed in one direction: staying here was suicide, anonymity was dead. And although the battle was a victory, it had been a victory that spoke too loudly. Others would soon come, perhaps higher-level and more determined.

  Fortunately, fate—or perhaps Nana's brutal logic—seemed to be on his side. For in a coincidence bordering on providential, Nana had gained three different magical affinities by consuming the bodies of the invaders.

  "Thanks to the mages, I have gained electricity affinity, water affinity... and, surprisingly, spatial affinity," she informed him in a calm voice, still adjusting to her new form.

  Joel couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Spatial affinity was one of the rarest and most dangerous abilities in existence, prominently featured in the records he had read in the Cult of the Dawn library, ranking only below the abilities of a dimensional walker. While they share a similar origin, dimensional affinity is a stronger and more specialized version of regular spatial affinity. The former allows the opening of portals to all sorts of locations, while the latter allows the manipulation of the space around the mage.

  "And you can use it now?" he asked cautiously.

  Nana didn't respond with words. Instead, several pieces of furniture in the house began to shrink and disappear, as if they had never existed. The children gasped at the scene, and Joel couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. Then, in a matter of seconds, everything that had disappeared reappeared in a reverse process of what had happened before.

  “I’ve begun to understand the logic,” Nana explained. “Spatial magic not only allows me to move sections of the building, but to bend them within myself. I believe that using all my energy, I should be able to compress the entire house into an encapsulated sphere of energy… although there is a major drawback.”

  “What?”

  “No one could live inside the house in that state, and many objects would likely be destroyed. Only the simplest materials and those that share our aura should be able to be returned to their original form.”

  “And what things fit into those that share our aura?” He ends up asking.

  “Everything that was built or created by your hands, meaning the house, the furniture, the sculptures, and probably even the objects you created with your new ability… I say probably, because from what I can sense, it should be that way, but I have to test it.”

  "Even so, that gives us a great advantage. You could compress at the same time as the house and move with me, as if you were an artifact..." he mused, already imagining the idea of a portable house, capable of being deployed anywhere he might be.

  "That's right. I just need time to complete the adjustments and have enough energy for the transformation process. I can start the preparations right now, given the complexity of the situation we find ourselves in."

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  The choice was clear: they couldn't stay there. Joel nodded. "Start the preparations. I'll pack what's necessary. We'll leave as soon as possible."

  Joel acted without wasting time, moving throughout the house, preparing what he needed for another long journey. Dry rations, travel cloaks, essential tools, potions, water, and everything that would fit in one of his larger bags. He couldn't carry everything, but he also couldn't leave the essentials behind; after all, it was a trip of no return.

  "Everyone ready?" he asked, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.

  Ariel nodded firmly. Both children, visibly tense, stayed close to him. They knew something was happening—something just as important and significant as the first time they met Joel.

  Shortly after, the three of them stepped out into the clearing in front of the house, leaving behind the threshold that had protected them for so long. There, they waited in silence.

  Nana, in her new guise, even able to walk like a person, positioned herself in front of the house. A reddish light began to pulse in her chest, slowly increasing in intensity, and the ground beneath her feet vibrated slightly.

  "Don't move," Nana said in a soft but firm voice. "I'm going to begin the process of compressing the house. Don't you dare come closer."

  And then, the impossible happened. The house began to collapse in on itself. It didn't explode or break, but folded in on itself along multiple axes, as if the space it occupied behaved like a giant paper bag, crumpling as it shrank. Walls, rooms, and entire foundations swallowed each other up until they occupied no space at all. The roof dissolved into lines of energy, and the windows were reduced to points of light.

  The process was as hypnotic as it was disturbing. And in less than a minute, everything that had once been their home became a tiny sphere barely a centimeter across, floating in the air with a scarlet glow.

  Without another word, Nana reached out, and the sphere was absorbed into her metallic chest. The pulse of light slowed, stabilizing with a soft hum. The house was gone.

  All that remained was the forest, the still-dark sky, a huge crater marking the basement of the house, and a silence so profound that no one dared break it for a long time.

  Joel took a deep breath. He was free, but also, once again... escaping from unknown enemies.

  The moment Joel took the first step away from the crater where his home had once been, something inside him forced him to stop. He turned his head, looking in the direction of the village, hidden behind the line of hills, where the lights flickered faintly under the cloak of night.

  That must be where Alicia was sleeping, the apprentice he never asked for and the company he never expected to need. For months, she had occupied a silent but constant space in his daily life. She asked him impossible questions with disconcerting ease, silently watched him as he wrote, and appeared as if by instinct with a cup of hot tea when he needed it most, without him even saying so. She had learned to respect his distant demeanor and his silences, and yet, with a strange patience, she managed to become part of his routine.

  He thought he would be more prepared. That leaving her behind would be simply one more step on his inevitable path. But it wasn't, and it hurt more than he expected.

  He sighed long and deeply. He rummaged in his pants pocket and found a small handful of candies, wrapped in plastic wrappers. They were simple sweets, conjured by himself, the same kind as that first lemon candy he had created so long ago. He had summoned them the day before, almost out of habit, as he depleted his mana reserves before sleeping. Alicia loved them.

  He bent down and carefully placed them on the ground, right where the entrance to the house had been. He said nothing. He left no note. Just that silent, sweet gesture, like a farewell.

  "I hope our paths cross once more," he thought.

  And without further ado, he turned and began walking with the children and Nana, deeper into the forest, leaving the place and the memories behind.

  Joel didn't really know where to go at first. The only thing he knew was the need to get away from the place as quickly as possible. With Liam strapped to his back using a makeshift harness, and Ariel carried in his arms like a princess, Joel ran straight into the depths of the forest, using all his physical capacity to take the fastest routes, no matter how difficult.

  Nana, meanwhile, had almost completely exhausted her energy by encapsulating the house within herself. Now reduced to less than four inches tall, she was carried in Ariel's arms like a toy doll.

  Thus ended a strange, almost unreal stage in Joel's life. And a new one began: that of a man on the run, once again, in search of a new refuge.