After leaving the stable, the party had plans to go to a nearby lake and use Tesilim as a skipping stone. However, ever since they arrived in the city, Alyx had been pestering them about going to the temple so they could perform various rituals on Tesilim. Even if the gnome had said that his soul looked fine, he still wanted to run a couple of tests, including a dispel ritual to see if it had any effect.

  “I think it might be a good idea,” Arelion added to their mental argument, his words instantly putting Tesilim on alert. The half-elf had been adamant about continuing their mess with Tesilim time, and having him switch arguments was unexpected and alarming.

  “What!?” Rose shouted, also taken by surprise by Arelion’s sudden shift.

  “Yeah, what she said, what's up with the sudden change of heart?” Tesilim asked, suspiciously staring at Arelion, at least as much as rock mentally could.

  “Well, while you three are at the temple, the rest of us can relax and take off our gear, then we can pick things back up in an hour or two,” Arelion proposed, without a single shred of his scheming noticeable in his voice.

  “That wouldn’t be bad at all. I am not a fan of armor after all,” Lili mentally told the group.

  “Alright, yeah, that’s fair, I also want a change of clothes,” Rose agreed.

  “Great! So we are all in agreement, here, can I get the rock please?” Alyx said as he stuck out his hand towards Lili so she could pass Tesilim to him.

  “I don’t know, this feels like a trap somehow,” Tesilim complained, feeling like he was missing something, but he didn’t stop Lili from handing him over, well, after she gave him a kiss.

  “You will be just fine. I will go change, pick up Drex, then go find you at the temple,” Lili told him before walking off with Rose and Arelion.

  Arelion waited until Alyx was farther away before speaking aloud.

  “Alright, they bought it, so here is the deal: we need to buy paint, maybe some ice cream, as well as some craft supplies, at least Jasmine thinks so.”

  Hearing the half-elf, Rose and Lili were confused, since they had believed the twin, but upon seeing the evil glint in his eyes, they gave him a nefarious smile.

  Back with Alyx, the duo entered the temple after a short walk, and it wasn't long before the gnome had people working on various rituals. The rituals themselves didn't really bother Tesilim, as he had already experienced many of them before. And in the end, it appeared that the researchers couldn't find anything new in the elf's latest state of existence. Sure, he acted more as a rock than an actual living being for certain things, but for the most part, at least when it came to souls, he had not changed. The oddest part of the entire endeavor was the fact that he couldn't use mana, as his mana simply failed to mobilize.

  The one ritual everyone had expected to work was when they brought in the Grand Cleric so they could perform a dispelling ritual, but the ritual did not manage to do anything. Of course, even if they hadn't necessarily found any groundbreaking things. The mere fact that the researchers, and even Alyx, were able to collect data on someone being transformed into a rock through such unusual means made the entire endeavor worthwhile for them. This was further added to by the fact that they weren’t even able to use polymorph on Tesilim the rock, which was an interesting prospect, as that had led to an entire thing of testing various magics on Tesilim, finding that anything related to transmutation or changing Tesilim too much was effectively nulled.

  After about an hour or two of rituals and general research, Alyx was walking out of the temple, and they headed towards Lili’s shop. Tesilim's girlfriend had come by earlier and, after checking in on the elf, had told him that she would wait for them along with Arelion and Rose at her shop.

  Arriving at Lili's shop, Tesilim’s earlier skepticism proved right as he found a bunch of neatly packed arts and crafts materials. However, at this point, he was over the entire thing and had decided that instead of complaining and cursing his party members, he would just enjoy his time as a rock. Well, at least he would do so most of the time, as they had allowed Drex to sniff him and the drake had promptly taken Tesilim into its mouth, giving the elf the horrifying experience of what it would feel to be a chew toy back on Earth.

  “NO! Bad Drex! Put me down! Put me down!” Tesilim yelled at the drake through their connection as he heard the rest of his party laughing their asses off in his mind.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  After his experience as a chew toy, the party headed to the nearest park. There, they set up the equivalent of a picnic, and although they had brought food, most of the space was taken up by paint, brushes, what was effectively clay, glue, paper, and all sorts of arts-and-crafts items. Thus began the stylize Tesilim the rock period of the day.

  During this time, Tesilim was painted in a multitude of colors and adorned with a variety of mustaches, eyes, noses, hats, and other features, both drawn on his relatively flat and smooth surface or simply attached to him with clay or glue. Throughout this process, the party took many pictures, something Tesilim had never really considered before. He had simply been too busy surviving to question if such things were possible.

  Apparently, pictures could be created in a variety of ways, from people who effectively placed illusions on paper and then painted them to those who skipped the middle step and acted like printers, using spells to transfer what they saw onto paper. Then there was another option, which involved using the magical equivalent of cameras. These devices took what people did with magic and automated the process, allowing those unable to use stronger spells to preserve their memories.

  Honestly, as they thought about it, they all regretted not taking pictures of the various things Tesilim had gone through. Not that they could be blamed, even if, between Alyx and Lili, they had plenty of ways to keep memories. After all, things could get rather hectic with Tesilim around, and taking a picture wasn’t something at the forefront of their to-do lists. Even so, now that they remember this crucial part and were more accustomed to the chaos, they would attempt to keep track of their journey.

  After everyone had had their fun with stylizing Tesilim, they attempted to play fetch with Drex, but after the first experience with the drake, the elf shut the idea down. Well, the rest of the party eventually listened to the elf's complaints, and they stopped. Granted, what they started doing next wasn't any better, but it was something that Tesilim could at least deal with and somewhat enjoy.

  “Not gonna lie, this is kind of fun!” Tesilim screamed as he skipped over the water's surface, feeling like he was on a very odd jet ski. It was a strange feeling, being a rock bouncing over water, and Tesilim couldn’t help but enjoy it, as it wasn’t every day that one got to live as a rock.

  Anyway, after everyone had a chance to skip the rock, they all had a skipping competition, where they all agreed that Lili only won because she had a sentient, magical rock. On that note, the only reason they skipped him over the water was that they could still cast spells on him, which made retrieving him—or, worse, losing him—a non-issue.

  Eventually, the sun began to set, and the party ended up dining together before splitting. They had all had a blast, Arelion confirming that Jasmine had enjoyed every moment of it. Still, it had been time to go their separate ways as night fully arrived, with even Drex heading off into Jolly’s realm, leaving Lili and her rock alone. Though, to be fair, Jolly did call them in to examine Tesilim, but that was brief.

  Finally, when they had been truly alone, Lili took Tesilim to the bathroom where the elf watched her shower, annoyed that he could only be mentally exited. Thankfully, she did wash him, which was a pleasant experience, and they even tried some unusual things they would never tell anyone about, involving putting him in places he was thankful to experience, but also thankful that she was that freaky. Anyways, as the night came to a close, Lili and he got into bed, where she promptly placed him between her breasts for a comfortable night of sleep. Of course, it took him a while to fall asleep as he processed the day's events and, more importantly, enjoyed the sensation of being a rock nudged between some beautiful big boobies, his thoughts making him giggle dumbly. Eventually, however, Tesilim did manage to fall asleep, hoping he wouldn’t need to spend another day as a rock.

  Hours later, Tesilim awoke with a start. Looking around with his spatial sense, he was still in the best spot in the world, but couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. Alright, not wrong per se, but he just felt funny, like a tickle at the back of his mind, or like when he felt someone watching him. Except, he couldn’t tell what it was, and he frantically inspected the area with his sphere until finally the feeling intensified, and it felt like he was having a panic attack. The feeling grew worse with every second until it reached a point where his awareness suddenly expanded, and the overflow of information knocked him out.

  Lili had fallen asleep with Tesilim the rock tucked safely between her breasts, after having ensured to take some fun pictures with him in the shower and before falling asleep. Well, she had done so without him noticing, thanks to his limited perception and her ability with magic. Her plan with the pictures was to give them to him as a present later on. So, having fallen asleep peacefully, she was annoyed when she was rudely awakened with a loud popping noise as a heavier weight settled on her.

  Coming to with a start, Lili quickly inspected her surroundings, finding that she was unable to move, at least not as easily as she should. Thankfully, she hadn’t enhanced herself to force herself up before she realized what, or rather who, was on top of her.

  Tesilim was back.

  Her elf’s head was firmly planted on her chest, her breasts acting as cushions, and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight. She was glad he had turned back, and even more so that there wasn’t purple and yellow dirt everywhere. Lili watched Tesilim sleep for a bit, deciding whether to wake him as he still wore his leather armor. However, after watching his sweet smile as he shifted his head from the side to fully smush his face into her chest, she decided she would be alright, and that he deserved a good night's sleep after all they had put him through. She then leaned forward, gave his head a quick kiss, and went back to sleep as her arms wrapped around him.