Shadowbane

"Ooh!" Kai exclaimed as he felt a tug on his fishing pole. However, after he reeled it in he groaned after seeing why there was so little resistance during the reel.

"Three times in a row? You have shit luck Wushu." The old man sitting next to Kai said.

Kai pulled the little minnow off the hook and threw it back into the water before reaching for more bait.

"Why does he keep calling you 'Wushu'? Is that your nickname?"

"No." Kai flicked his pole forward, releasing his line back into the river. "It's what the citizens here call the refugees from Yulia. It's seen as racist by some, but my sister and I have never felt any ill will aimed at us when we are called that term. There are many problems between our refugees and the people here, but this is not one of them. It's a made-up issue that takes away from the myriad of other topics we should be discussing."

I heard something shatter behind me. Kai and I looked back to see a man apologizing to an angry-looking Xi.

"There goes your new vase," Kai said.

"A real shame indeed. Now I won't have anything to hold the whole zero flowers I planned on buying."

"It would hold something eventually. Otherwise, Lady Aresa would not have put it on the list of objects to be sent to your new home."

"Wait, everything being shuffled into my home back there is because of Aresa? I thought you two were responsible for this... Isn't she busy today?"

Kai nodded, "Yes, but that's unrelated to this. Once she discovered you were alive and heading this way, she immediately made a list of items that she'd be buying for you, regardless of where you ended up staying. That's what she told us when we were given our new orders to pick you up."

He continued, "Originally we were sent to Fairview, the city we picked you up in, because we had plans to stay there for a few weeks as we helped thin out the roaming Xerath. It needs to be done every so often as the Xerath will continuously expand the area they run through looking for living beings to consume. We used to cleanse the area East of Telebron, but someone made it so our jurisdiction was changed to the area surrounding Fairview. Basically, we were delegated to the southern part of Termia. A place that takes over a day of driving to reach."

"The Supreme Leader?"

"Possibly. All I remember is Aresa apologizing as she told us the location of our new duties. She didn't tell us why it was changed, but it's not hard to guess. It's either the Supreme Leader or The Phoenix Initiative that's been working hard to reduce the amount of people around her. It was only a suspicion at first, but over time the number of guards, maids, bishops, etc. had all slowly diminished to a fraction of what their original number was. We've tried talking to her about it, but she just tells us to be patient. She says she has a plan, and she'll tell us about it when the time comes."

"How much political power does she hold? I thought she'd have more as the 'Goddess' of this city, but if other people can decide for her where her support is going to go and how many guards she's allowed to have, then it's sounding like this whole situation is just as bad as Viseux was."

"According to her, it's nowhere near as bad as Viseux, and I believe her. She explained the situation in great detail about her ordeals on Urza, and from my point of view, I'd say her control here is much more stable. From what we were told, I feel like there was nothing she could do to overcome Rai'ga. And speaking of that abomination, I was greatly disturbed when you told us that he truly is here, and even attacked you multiple times. Although, just like I said at the time, I truly do not know this 'Seifer'. Hopefully Lady Aresa will have more information for you. But..."

Kai went silent. He was clearly hesitant and unsure about whether he wanted to finish that sentence.

"Weird part of the story for you to suddenly clam up..."

"... You'll hear about it eventually anyway, and seeing as how I didn't know the woman all that much beforehand, it might still be a little shocking for you personally." Kai sighed, "Lady Euphemia is engaged to the Supreme Leader. So if this 'Seifer' was working with Rai'ga when he's been officially MIA after working as a spy for Termia in Viktor's lands, then I'm honestly not sure how to interpret this revelation. It could go in twenty different directions."

It's a little surprising hearing about who Euphie is engaged to, but it doesn't bother me all that much. I still don't know anything about the Supreme Leader outside of what these two have told me, so it's hard to make a judgment call at this point. Obviously it is possible that he really is a piece of shit that's completely in league with Viktor, which would mean Euphie has changed quite a bit since I last saw her, but there's no point in worrying about such a grim possibility when that's all it is at this point. A possibility.

For the next hour I continued to watch Kai fail miserably at fishing as the men around us caught one fish after another. I wasn't just sitting there idly though. Most of the men and women around me were constantly chatting about different topics. A good eighty percent of it was useless filler, while the other twenty percent told me quite a bit about how the citizens on this side of the city felt about the current state of Termia.

All in all, things weren't looking good. They're agitated, scared, annoyed, and praying things will settle down at some point. They just want things to go back to normal. Which is a pipe dream. You'll need to either kill Viktor or join him, those are the only options. And that's not even addressing the myriad of other issues that this place is dealing with.

And speaking of those other issues, the refugee discussion between Kai and the others was a strange one. I could tell that the people here were understanding of their plight and wanted to help at first, but at this point they're really hoping the refugees will go somewhere else.

Surprisingly, Kai didn't really disagree with them. And when he saw the look on my face he told me that he'd take me to see the western side of the city tomorrow. He said that it's impossible to deny just how bad things have gotten and that he's been formulating a plan with the other Yulia leaders and Aresa to fix the situation, but there is a whole load of problems that need to be fixed first. He obviously couldn't talk about the details out here in public, so he swore he'd tell me in my home before we left tomorrow.

"Rei, they're done," Xi said from behind me.

I looked back and saw the men climbing the steps that led back to the bridge.

"How's it looking?"

Xi smiled and motioned for me to follow her, "See for yourself! It took forever to clean it up and get rid of those old boxes, but it's looking great now. All thanks to me of course.~"

I stood up and followed her to the entrance of my new abode. When she opened the door I immediately realized that it wasn't creaking, which made me notice that a brand new door had been put on. A super thick one that I'd expect to see in a prison.

"Wow, you added a new door too? And it's a really nice one!"

"Of course we did. We couldn't leave that old one on here, and this one is reinforced, so if someone tries breaking in it'll be really difficult for them. Also, we needed to make a bigger entrance for your pet there. A normal Crotia would have fit inside beforehand, but yours is... Wait, why is yours so damned big?!"

... Okay, this door situation is surprising me far more than the news about Euphie did. Reinforced buildings like that city hall in Xethra are super rare, so for me to have a door like this for my abandoned ex-storage home that's situated next to a waterway is really bizarre. But I'm sure as hell not about to complain. Being old friends with the Goddess of this place can lead to some amazing benefits it seems. I was planning on sealing up the door with my mesh, but there's no need for that now.

I looked around the room and was impressed by what I saw. The dilapidated storage from before had completely vanished. Now there was a clean room with brand new white carpeting, a single-sized bed in the back-left corner, a medium-sized crystal light on the ceiling, and lastly, a desk and mirror pushed up against the right wall.

"Well? Do you like it? I wanted to place more in here, but Kai said I should allow you to fill out the rest on your own, and for once, he was right." Xi's eyes opened wide as she remembered something, "Oh, uh... You really don't need to use the bathroom? It's in Aresa's notes that you don't need one, but how is that possible? Don't all things need to, um..."

I shrugged, "Hell if I know why. I just know that things go into me, and then they never come back out." Souls included. "And I do like this! Thanks a lot, Xi, and thank Aresa for me as well. I can only think of a few things I'd like to get after this, but don't worry, they should be pretty cheap."

"And what is that?"

"A recliner of some sort, and a washtub."

"The first one is fine, but there's no need for the second one. I was going to lead you to the bathhouse after this so you'd know the way. There are two of them though. One on the Market's side, and another on the Chapel's side. Which one do you want to go to? Personally, I can't tell a difference between them aside from how much further away the Chapel one is from your home." Xi said.

Kai poked his head over my shoulder and looked around the room before nodding in approval. "You should also know that the 'Market side' my sister refers to, is the Huron district. Despite being the marketplace meant for Telebron's citizens, it's still named after the largest type of fish in the rivers, since this is where most of the citizens fish from."

"Why'd you word it like that? 'Telebron's citizens'? It just seemed like an odd way to put it. Is there another marketplace?"

"Heh, I'm impressed that you picked up on that minor detail. And yes, there's a main marketplace in the district north of here. Cross the bridge and you'll reach the biggest district in Telebron. It's partly residential as well, with all of the homes being on the southern side, while the rest is entirely an open market until you reach the docks. However, I'd still suggest you shop on this side. The quality of the goods is basically the same and they're much cheaper. The only time I'd head north is if you're looking for something that you can't find on this side."

Xi clapped her hands, "Okay! She's learned enough for today. Let's go take some baths! We obviously need one, and Rei uh, is that going to come out?" Xi pointed toward the dried blue blood on my outfit.

"Yeah it'll come out. I've removed Xerath blood from my armor before." Although it wasn't blue back then. It's normally green or dark purple. Maybe it can be any color? Every Xerath and Eldritch is different after all. Even Aresa's blood is blue, so it's not like it's a huge surprise at this point that I've run into a new color of blood for the Xerath.

Xi closed the door and then looked at me, "Do you know what to do?"

"Huh? With what?"

"The door, silly! It's unclaimed as it is. You need to put your hand or finger over this jewel here where the knob is supposed to be and pour your mana into it."

Heeding her advice, I reached out for the dark green jewel and poured my mana into it. Something about this feels so familiar... It's making me think of Kellog for some reason? I heard the jewel make a slight clicking noise as it began to reject my mana.

"That's it! Now all you need to do is touch it and tell it to open whenever you want to enter or leave your home. It's not impossible to break this door, but you'll have plenty of time to prepare if someone is stupid enough to attack you." Xi said.

"Or they could just blow up the street above me? That'd be an easier way to ambush me. Actually, can't they just destroy the wall next to the door? As much as I appreciate it, I'm starting to wonder what the point of this door is."

Kai nodded while Xi exaggeratedly sighed at me, "If they want to kill you that badly, then yeah, there isn't much we can do about it... But it still won't be easy to destroy. Remember, we're on the chapel side. It's not exactly reinforced, but you can't just punch your way through these walls in one go!"

"Partly true. It will be less difficult than breaching the door, however---"

Xi slapped her brother's back, cutting off his sentence. "Enough of this! Come on, let's just go take a bath and relax for now. I don't know how you two still have the energy to discuss this crap. We've done nothing but talk about serious topics like this for several days. I'm so damned tired and hungry right now..."

"Okay, okay. You're right, Xi. We'll drop it for now. I'm pretty exhausted at this point as well." Mentally anyway. Only a few things can ruin me physically at this point, like overusing my halo.

"Of course you're hungry..." Kai mumbled as his sister ran up the steps.

Petey, wait outside next to the door. I'll be back in an hour or two. Don't do anything aggressive toward the people here. Just sit there in a dormant state while listening to everything the people here say. You might pick up something useful.

Petey walked over and sat by the wall. He then placed the sword on his lap and immediately stopped moving. I could feel the amount of mana he was draining from me severely plummet.

"Ready?" Kai said as he looked back at me. He was watching Petey as well with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yep. Not that I'd have time for anything more than this anyway. I can already see your sister huffing and puffing from on top of the bridge."

"Eh, you'll get used to it. She's just impatient when she's hungry."

Kai and I ran up the stairs and onto the bridge where Xi was waiting. Once we were behind her again she began to jog at a fast pace back the way we had come earlier. We jogged like that weaving through multiple streets as Mother began to dim.

Looks like it's nighttime already. I'm still not used to the day and night cycles here on this side of Mother. The sun is only up for half the amount it was on Urza, so Mother lights up for the remaining half, but it felt like the amount of time she stayed lit was random, so I asked the siblings about it and it turns out I was right. Sometimes she stays lit for an extra hour, and sometimes she begins to dim an hour early. There's apparently no rhyme or reason to it. At least none that the people on Aetheria could discern.

On the bright side, the light she emits doesn't hurt me at all. The sun was already kind of weak compared to the pain I feel when I'm close to other types of light, like torches or light spells. But her light somehow does nothing to me. Which really helped when Petey and I were running through the Xerath-controlled plains surrounding Termia.

"There it is! I'll catch up with you two later!" Xi said as she ran toward a food stall in the distance. Crystal torches on the food carts and all around the rest of the city began to light up, countering the darkness that Mother had left us in.

"Have you been in one of these before?" Kai asked me as we walked toward a rather large building in front of us.

"No, but it can't be all that complicated. It's literally called a 'Bath House', so that's all it is, right?"

"That's somewhat correct... But you're right, it shouldn't prove difficult to figure out. Just remove your clothing or whatever that is you're wearing in the area before the bath and then go into the bath area naked or covered in a towel. You can put your clothing in the washing machine in the changing room before you head in. It should be done by the time you've finished cleaning yourself."

As expected, it was mostly self-explanatory, except I am glad he told me about the washing machine. I only vaguely remember them from when I was a kid, but I should be able to figure out how to use it.

"You're already done?!" Xi said to me as I exited the bath. She was in the process of undressing, which was taking her a while thanks to how elaborate her dress was.

"Xi, just how long do you think it's been since we split up? It was easily forty-five minutes ago. Aside from the five minutes it took me to get that stupid machine to work, I've been in the bath the whole time."

"Oh? It didn't feel like it took me that long to eat though..."

I walked over to the washing machine and pulled my armor out. According to one of the girls I talked to in here, you used to need a second machine to dry your clothes, but this one dries your clothes within minutes after the wash is done.

I pulled the suit over my body and shrunk it down to fit my body again.

"Um, Rei... You do realize that outfit makes it kind of hard to look at you, right?"

"What? It can't look that bad! I think black looks great on me..."

"No no, it's more about the fact that it's skin tight. You have a nice body, but it's still really weird to look at, especially from behind... You should get some clothes to wear over that. Want me to pick some out for you? I've gotten pretty good at understanding the fashion of this world, so you can count on me!"

"Then please do, and thank you, Xi... You two have been really kind to me so far. Yet again I owe Aresa for easing me into a new city while smoothing out relations for me."

It wouldn't be an issue if I still had my artifact armor. Viktor probably gave it to Vi, or maybe that werewolf kept it for himself? If he does have it, maybe I'll turn it into a necklace again so I can choke him to death with it... But only if he doesn't have Ishar's spear with him. If possible, I would prefer to stab him to death with Ishar's spear. That would hold much more weight for me and be a very fitting end for that worthless fucker. I'll settle for strangling him with the artifact if he doesn't have it though.

The now naked Xi bent down and picked up her towel before looking at me, "Ooh that's right. She helped you on Urza as well, didn't she? Isn't she just so sweet, albeit a little mean sometimes... Err, you'll see what I mean. Anyway, I'm sure you remember the way back to your place, so I'll see you tomorrow then!"

Xi ran past me into the bath. I could hear a few people calling out to her soon after that. She does seem like a friendly girl, so it's not all that surprising that she has friends and acquaintances throughout the city.

I left the locker area and walked out of the Bath House. After I was outside I considered waiting for Kai to come out so I could get some money for the food stands, but I decided to just call it a night.

Instead of going through the back streets that we took to get here, I walked toward the main road and tried to find my way to the bridge. It was surprisingly easy to find the right direction, as I could see the chapel in the distance, but I quickly understood why Xi had taken us there through the rather desolate back streets. There were people everywhere. It wasn't a huge issue since I was walking, but it would've been a pain to maneuver through everyone at the brisk pace we were running earlier.

A short blonde-haired man paused in front of me, forcing me to stop in my tracks. "Greetings Miss! Mind if I ask you a few questions?

I circled around him and continued on my way.

He quickly walked up to my side and kept pace with me. "So cold~! I just want to ask you a few questions at the behest of my employer. You see, he's very intrigued by you and has been awaiting your arrival."

I quickly scanned everything around me. The man, the people around us, the buildings, etc.

Two couples in that alley, one is a plant.

The man on that bench is pretending to read a newspaper while keeping an eye on me.

There is also someone watching me from the top of a nearby building.

{R-Rei, what are you planning? Your aura is scary...}

We're being tracked. Shouldn't you have realized that before me, Mrs. Support?

{I know about that, but you can't just kill them for following you, right?}

I ignored Luna and the man who was still blithering on about his employer and how important it is that I answer a few questions for him. I kept walking until I found a side street that was empty, or at least it was empty until I began to walk down it. That was when the fake couple from before appeared at the other end while continuing to play their ruse of 'lovers just looking for an empty alley to make out in'.

It'll be too risky to go after the one on the roof. I'll leave him be so he can report back to his master.

{Mother says 'Don't worry about leaving evidence'. Uuu... I don't like this...}

Almost there... Five seconds, Luna. Get ready.

I continued walking down the alley. My footsteps were silent, allowing me to hear the two sets of dress shoes clacking behind me, telling me that the fake newspaper reader was also there.

I came upon the 'couple' and moved to the right so I could walk past them. But as soon as I was behind the man's back I activated the halo and charged it. They were fast to react, but not fast enough. The man turned around while trying to enhance himself, but he must've screwed up in his panic, as my fist went right through his stomach and smashed into the woman. She didn't mess up her enhancements, so instead of punching through her, I smashed her straight into the wall. The impact either knocked her out or killed her, because she slid to the ground, leaving a large trail of blood on the wall.

I could feel the men to my left doing two different things with their mana. The blonde man who had been talking to me was purely enhancing himself and a small dagger with an extremely enraged look on his face, while the portly man behind him was charging up a lightning spell. I obviously didn't know which one, but I couldn't help but chuckle at how unfortunate it was for him that his main element was electricity. He saw me laughing and the panic on his face increased ten-fold. It was apparently not the response he was used to seeing when his enemy saw the little bolts emitting from his palm. Normally I'd bet it's really scary for his opponents when they see that lightning display, but sadly for him, that's the worst element to be attacking me with.

Blondie finished his enhancements and charged at me. My arm was still inside of the fake lover, and for the time being he was still alive. He attempted to scream as I threw him at blondie, but he ended up just gurgling as blood began to spew out of his mouth.

Blondie was apparently not a team player. He deflected his ally as if he were nothing more than a projectile, knocking the poor man straight into the wall. That hit turned out to be the final straw for him. The man slid down the wall leaving a trail of blood much in the same way his fake lover had done earlier.

With nothing more between the two of us, he stabbed the dagger at my face. A very straightforward attack that I could dodge in my sleep, and yet, despite the fact that the dagger had clearly missed me, I still felt a large gash open up on my cheek. What the hell? Not only did he miss, but I'm overenhanced thanks to my Halo. There's no way he should have been able to pierce my skin right now. Does he have an ability similar to that one fucker who cut my arms off as I was strangling Viktor?

The man smirked as he stabbed at me again and again. I deflected or dodged one attack after another, but each attack resulted in part of my armor ripping a little or another cut opening up on my face somewhere. Tsk, I don't know how he's doing this, so staying on the defensive is clearly not the play here.

I kicked at his shin but some innate part in the back of my head was warning me not to do it, and I realized why after my kick landed. There were blades all along his legs underneath his pants that were already enhanced which resulted in the armor on my foot being cut up as my mana dropped down by at least twenty percent thanks to how hard I had just kicked them. He made no attempt to dodge or deflect that attack, so my instincts were screaming at me to abort, but the allure of a free hit had pulled me in.

"Rodger, move!" The portly man yelled.

"Not happening! Don't worry, I've got this!" Rodger the blonde dagger user yelled back.

Thanks to the perceived upper hand he had, he continued his assault, ramping up in speed and power as he went. It was clear at this point that he was overenhancing himself. "What's the matter bitch?! Is this all you've got?! Makes me wonder why he was so worried about you!"

I ignored him and continued to parry and dodge his attacks. My outfit was becoming more and more cut up, along with my face, but I made no effort to change my tactics. I just kept doing the same thing over and over, allowing the man to attack me unabated.

"Rodger, something is wrong! She's just sitting there taking your hits!"

Oh? So the rotund man in the back has some sense in his head.

"Obviously! The bitch can't keep up with me, so just leave this to me!"

It seems 'Rodger' doesn't though. I guess I can't blame him. He doesn't understand what is happening right now. Just like my kick earlier, he sees the current flow as his victory, so he can't see the real ending that's waiting for him.

He kept attacking me for another thirty seconds before he suddenly slowed down massively, and before he could react to the fallout of his overenhanced state backfiring, I planted a fist right into his chest. He had blades hidden there too, but they were barely enhanced at this point, so both they and his heart were destroyed as my fist connected. A look of pure confusion appeared on his face as he died, leading to one of the funniest-looking death faces I had ever seen.

Lack of information and over-confidance did him in. He didn't know that large gashes like that on my body don't mean all that much to me. Open wounds on me close up fast, and while the creation of more blood drains my mana, it is nowhere near enough to down me. Technically it was a gamble, as he could have had more mana than me, but I doubted that was possible after I had so easily dispatched two of his allies.

"S-Shit! I knew it, damned fool!" The portly man yelled as he pointed his finger at me and released the blast he had been charging up. It wasn't a lightning bolt like I had expected, but instead a sphere made of electricity that was slowly moving toward me as multiple streaks of lightning ran along the walls and floor.

He had apparently put all of his mana into the spell, as he immediately dropped to one knee after the sphere appeared in front of him. Between the perpetually confused look on Rodger's face and the rotund man who had spent all of his mana on a spell that was doomed for failure against me, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The man, still on one knee, looked up at me horrified. As he stared at me I put my arms out to the side and slowly walked forward. A few seconds later the sphere of lighting passed through me. The damage wasn't negligible, as I'm not immune to lightning, merely strong against it, but it was still nowhere near enough to bring me down.

Seeing this, the emotions on the man's face morphed into one of resignation. He knew he was dead, and he was ready for it, but before I could approach him, a sword pierced him from above. It went straight through the top of his skull before exiting his lower jaw as it smashed his head into the pavement.

I stopped in my tracks and readied myself as the person who had been watching me from the roof dropped down next to the man. He pulled his sword out of the man's skull and scoffed as he cleaned the blade with a handkerchief.

"Mother said to keep an eye on you, but I didn't expect you to enter a battle to the death the very same day you arrived. You could have just walked home you know? Why'd you pivot into an alley so you could kill them?" The man said.

He was young, barely in his twenties with short black hair and wearing a very refined outfit. Most notable of all however, was the black wings sticking out of his back. Between his familiar appearance and the quality of his clothes, a single person entered my mind.

"Is your mother Cera?"

"Do we look that alike...? I thought I'd have to explain who I was."

"Well, I'd prefer you still did that. I know your mother, not you."

The man smiled and bowed, "Artorus, Miss Reimia. My mother has told me about her origins and the history of Urza more times than I'd like to remember. And you were an integral part of her life, for better or worse. I'm going to assume it's mostly for the better, as from what I've seen she appears to harbor no ill will toward you. At least not in the way Lady Aresa has described her past actions regarding you." Artorus motioned toward the dead man next to him, "Now do you mind explaining this? But on the way to your home please. We should leave this area quickly. The guards are letting people through the streets again."

{He means that Mother had the road blocked off so nobody would see what was happening in this alley. A-And Mother is the one who told me not to help you! It's not because I was scared like before...}

So basically, she wanted to see how I handled a fight against people without help.

Artorus jumped onto a nearby wall before kicking off toward the building behind him. He did that until he reached one of the roofs. I planned on following him of course, but first I needed to do something. I ran through the alley eating all of the souls from the four dead people while giving them a quick pat down for anything else they may hold. All I found was a wad of bills in one of the couple's pockets, which was good enough for me. With that done, I jumped up to the roof Artorus was looking down at me from. Not through wall hopping though. I made it in one go and pulled myself onto it by grabbing the ledge when I was in range.

"... Miss Reimia, there's no need to overexert yourself like that. We need to hurry but a delay of a couple of seconds would not have made much of a difference."

I pointed at my halo "No time to explain, but this is the cause. I'm in an overenhanced state right now and I can't drop it until I'm back at my home. So let's go."

Artorus understood that time was precious to me, so he didn't even nod in response. He began jumping from one roof to another toward the chapel area(whose district name I still didn't know). It didn't take long for us to reach the last roof. Artorus jumped down below with the intention of walking over the bridge, but that was a waste of time for me, and I couldn't see anyone on the bridge or near it on the chapel side, so I backed up a little and got a running start before jumping toward the bridge. I overshot it by a little bit, but as soon as I landed I ran toward the stairs. Upon descending them I found a scene I didn't expect to see. Petey was fishing with the men in the waterway.

I was still covered in blood though and didn't want the men here to see me so I removed the halo. The backlash wasn't as extreme as what hit me after my fight with Seifer, but it was enough to make me hate the idea of walking even one more inch. Even so, I turned invisible before anyone saw me and walked up to my door. It soundlessly opened up after I told the jewel to allow me entry. Looking back I saw Artorus waving in my direction from the other side of the bridge before turning around and walking away. Looks like he only planned to guide me home and then return to his own domicile.

You can stay there, Petey. And once you're done fishing you can keep watch outside of the door.

I entered my new home for the first time and closed the door behind me. I used my left hand since the palm didn't have blood on it to look through the drawers of my dresser. Most of them were empty, but I did find a stack of towels in the large drawer on the bottom-left side. After cleaning myself the best I could, I laid down on the bed and immediately shut myself off. My soul was aching and as a consequence so was my body, so the sooner I could rest, the better.

A warning from Petey woke me up. Someone was approaching. He was still fishing but his eyes were following a group of people fully robed in brown cloaks. However, he did catch a glimpse inside the hood of the smallest member there. He saw blue hair and horns with gold streaks. She's still as impatient as ever. I had a feeling she'd be showing up here tonight despite the fact that we were supposed to meet tomorrow.

"Ooh!" Aresa said as she noticed Petey. The robed soldiers reprimanded her while preventing her from approaching him. A few of the soldiers even had their palms on the pommel of their swords as they glared at Petey. They obviously saw him as a potential threat. In response, Petey just looked away and went back to fishing, which seemed to greatly annoy them. So she can talk now huh? I'll have to ask her about that.

Loud knocking sounded out from my door soon after that. I rolled out of bed, still feeling the after-effects of the halo. How long was I out? My soul is feeling better but it's still nowhere near stable. Ugh, just moving around hurts right now.

I walked to the door and pulled it open, revealing a tall Asian man who had to bend down to look through the door frame. He went to say something but someone pushed past his legs and dove into my chest. The Asian man sighed as the girl wrapped her arms around me. I looked down but all I could see was the top of her brown hood.

"... You're late." She said.

"I know, I know. But hey, at least it wasn't forty-two years?"

Aresa chuckled and pulled her head back. She looked up and pulled the hood off, revealing a face I recognized but kind of didn't at the same time. She's grown up a little... In human years it feels like she went from twelve years old to sixteen.

She wiped a tear away before looking back at the Asian man. "Close the door, and don't you dare attack that skeleton. Just leave it be, you hear me?!"

"Yeah, yeah. I understand, my goddess." The man sighed yet again before closing the door.

"Grr, he's so annoying..." Aresa pulled away from me and threw off her brown robe before jumping onto the bed. She then looked at me and patted the bed. "Come, come!"

"... Hmm. You seem a little different from what I remember."

"Hey now, I'm still the same. Cera and Euphie tell me that all the time. I'm just fed up with my 'Knights'. And it's hard to call them that when most of them are just watch dogs masquerading as protectors..."

I walked over to the bed and sat down on it. I brought my legs onto the bed and turned in her direction so I was sitting cross-legged looking right at her. She did the same thing before showing me the biggest smile ever. "I can't believe you're actually here... I still watch memories from my time on Urza, so I remember everything about you, but it's just so weird to see you in person again."

"And you look like you've aged quite a bit. But nowhere near as much as you should have in... Thirty years?"

"Almost Thirty-three years. I told you, you're slow. Too slow! Life has been good here but it's been getting increasingly worse and unstable as the years progress. I really could have used you like, fifteen years ago. But I'm glad you're here now... There's so much I need to tell you. And so much I need your help with... But will you help me? I took you for granted on Urza, so I'd like to ask for your help this time." Aresa said, looking up at me with pursed lips.

"Of course stupid. Why else would I be here? Although my original idea of helping you was to take you away from this place. But from what Lunaria and the Yulia siblings said, I get the feeling that you don't want to leave Termia."

Aresa shook her head, "Sorry Rei, I love this place way too much now. And... And I just can't watch it happen again. I already lost one home. The very idea of abandoning another would kill me... Plus, shouldn't we be making a stand here anyway? Don't you want to stop Viktor? He used to be just some guy from the past that you would talk about. History lessons I found interesting. Your past was sad and I felt bad for you, but that's what it was, the past. That's not the case anymore though. I've had to learn quite a bit about that asshole, and even met him in person once."

"Wait... You met Viktor? When? Why?"

"Hehe, I knew that'd interest you. He came to the Aetheria summit that's held in Telebron once every ten years. The last one was the first time he attended it, and it was when most of the southern nations declared that they were willingly being absorbed into his nation. Ever since that day, things have spiraled more and more out of control... Oh! I really really really wanted to ask you this since nobody else would know him this deeply, but why are the goo Xerath attacking him too? Can't he just control them and turn them into allies?"

"'Goo Xerath', huh? That's what you call them? I've been calling them the 'Ooze Xerath', which isn't much better. Anyway, he has a limit to the amount of Xerathian Gods he can control. According to him, it's two. Now bear in mind, this isn't even something he told me directly. I just overheard him talking to his brother about it back when I was a child. It was when my master, his brother, was creating plans with Viktor on how they were going to use me. They knew about my invisibility and wanted to use me to kill the leaders of the nobles who were using the curse-bearing Eldritch Lords to control them, but for reasons that aren't worth explaining, that plan never really worked out. Old history aside, it all depends on whether you believe he was telling his brother the truth."

Aresa put her elbows on her thighs so she could rest her chin on her palms. "Hmmmmm... I mean, in context it sounds believable? And it is a fact that he's currently being attacked by those Xerath from all corners of his nation. And, pfft, you know who is exploiting these assaults the most? The Tengu! It always makes me laugh when I read reports that say an 'uncoordinated but double assault' took place on one of Viktor's cities. I'd like to know why the Tengu is attacking Viktor, but I think it's for the best that I don't poke the beehive. Just letting my enemies kill each other seems like a better course of action, yeah?"

I couldn't help but grimace from the way she was talking. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't sound like the girl I had last seen in Viseux.

"Definitely not something the Aresa I knew would say. Looks like some of your naivety has vanished... It's honestly making me sad. I hate how I didn't get to see you grow up in person."

"S-Stop it, don't act like you're a parent who just found their long-lost daughter... I'm still the same girl, I promise! Just a little, you know, grown up. You'll get used to it."

"I wonder what Shana would say if she saw you now..."

At that, Aresa's lips puckered a little. "So she really is...?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, Aresa... I would love to blame Seifer, but Viktor would have killed her anyway. If anything, it's my fault for even being there. Viktor would have rewarded Markus's group handsomely for saving his daughter and that would have been the end of it. But he saw me, and then he decided to kill two birds with one stone. He's a conniving cunt like that. Once he realized that his daughter's saviors could be used as a springboard to expand his nation, there was no longer any chance for us to talk our way out of it. That's just how he is."

"H-Hang on, why did you mention Seifer there? Didn't he go missing like, twenty years ago? Maybe even thirty..."

Oh right, Lunaria told me that I should be the one to explain this to her. And she's right, I really should be the one to tell her about everything that happened up until now.

I laid down on the bed and patted the area next to me like she had done earlier.

"It's probably for the best that I just show you what happened. Starting from when I woke up on Urza."