Hello, Lady Changing Star

Quickly walking through the BrightCastle the duo find themselves standing in the short hallway containing the cohort's three rooms.

Wyatt then instructs Kai to stay out of view and keep perfectly silent. The glamorous idol agrees and get a few meters behind him, standing just outside the poorly lit hallway.

As a masked figure stands outside of Cassie's door, he knocks to grab blind girls attention.

"Cassie, can you come out please?"

"Okay." She responds not long after.

Wyatt chooses this moment to take of his disguise, revealing a soft pale face, with humorous sparks dancing in his eyes.

As she walks out the door, she's excited to see him again considering he left for so long earlier.

"What is it Wyatt?"

"Can we talk to Nephis for a second, I want to show her something."

Despite his kind voice, Kai can't help but be worried. Although if he saw the maniacal grin plastered on Wyatt's face he would've probably ran out to try to save the poor girl from whatever cruel fate she might meet.

Nephis' room is merely a few steps from Cassie's so it takes little effort to knock on her door and ask her to open it.

"What's wrong?" Nephis asks. She takes notice of Wyatt's facial expressions and is unnerved.

At this point Wyatt decides to reveal Kai as he motions the archer to come over.

Timidly, Kai then speaks to the girls.

"Hello, h-how might you be doing today."

Nephis goes completely pale and is stricken with horror. For a few seconds, one could hear a pin drop.

Cassie then laughs off the silence with an almost dreamy smile on her face.

"Hey, for a second I thought Night from Nightingale was talking to me. Wouldn't that have been something?"

"Wyatt, what are you doing wi-with HIM?!" Nephis asks, pale and completely star struck.

Kai is feeling slightly braver now that he isn't fearing for his life quite as much, so he takes the opportunity to state his own concerns.

"I would also like to know that."

Cassie realizes just who is in front of her at this point and starts gasping like a fish.

Wyatt soaks up all the attention like a sponge as he pouts with fake-hurt in his tone.

"To answer your question my friend, it's because those two forgot my birthday and I needed revenge. It truly hurts me to see my other friends like this but it must be done."

Kai then gives a side long glance at Wyatt.

"If you're so hurt, then why are you smiling like that?"

Sure enough, the maniacal grin never left his face.

"Everyone deals with grief in their own way."

"why do I even bother" Kai mumbled under his breath.

Nephis then speaks up. "Wait, it's your birthday today?"

"I rest my case Kai."

Cassie is equally curious. "How old are you turning?"

"Oh I'm seventeen now." Wyatt answers enthusiastically, if not a bit sad that his elaborate prank only garnered a few seconds of shock.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

Nephis chooses to chime in with her own passive-aggressive praises."Yes, congratulations on surviving more than a few days in the Dream Realm with the kind of indolent attitude you brought in."

"Nephis, aren't humans supposed to be adaptable? So what if the way I'm adapting isn't through using a sword?" Wyatt retorts, unhappy with being considered lazy even though he feels he's worked as hard as any of them.

"Anyway, I brought presents for you."

Cassie can't hold back her excitement."You shouldn't have!"

In regards to her remarks Wyatt is more than happy to assuage Cassie's guilt."Don't worry. For you I didn't, just for Nephis."

"But... why?" Cassie asks, as though she can't believe her ears.

With a sharp glint in his eye, Wyatt responds."Why indeed Cassie? You're an oracle, I'm sure you can figure it out."

Cassie droops her head down as she mumbles out in a sad voice:"I understand."

Feeling his heartstrings being tugged on, he contemplates if he's being unreasonable.

'Well she did give away Sunny's most important secret in an attempt to make sure he dies instead of Nephis. Even worse, if Sunny dies, I doubt I'll survive, so her plans included me dying too. But still, it is a shame to see her like this.'

Kai's brain stops working as he tries to process what he just heard. Did the eldritch horror that's at least hundreds of years old just say it's seventeen? Why is it acting so friendly now? Is he not dangerous?

But his hopes are dashed when he sees the unfathomable monster bullying a young girl.

Wyatt chose to ignore Kai's plight and gave Nephis two Memories.

A pair of goggles that could slightly enhance one's sight, and a pair of gloves that improved grip strength.

"I hope you like 'em. They were the Memories that I thought would work best for you."

She thanks him but is quickly distracted again by her favorite idol's presence.

"Night, please forgive me for being blunt, but isn't NightinGale supposed to be on hiatus due to Gale's solo project?" Nephis queries, causing Kai to sigh out.

"Yes, I've heard that was the excuse my agency gave...But no, unfortunately I've actually been stuck here these past few years."

'(Hey, who's Gale and why does Neph care so much?)' Sunny asks unsure of what's going on.

'[I actually don't know. But he's probably the other half of Nightingale. I can ask.]' Wyatt answers equally unsure.

"Hey Nephis, who's Gale?"

The two girls turns to face Wyatt in a mix of shock and confusion.

Nephis is the first to respond."Didn't you spend a month in the Academy? How could you not have heard of him?"

Indignantly, Wyatt retorts."I was busy, and I don't know how to use the communicators yet. Besides how popular can they be, I would've heard other people talking about it."

Cassie then barges into the conversation on Nephis' behalf."People have stopped talking about them because they've been on haitus for so long. But they're still really popular."

Hearing this nonsensical conversation, at least from his point of view, Kai barges in.

"Pardon me, but what exactly is going on?"

Nephis then turns to Wyatt as though asking whether she can tell Kai. Wyatt however, would rather do it himself.Wyatt then looks up at Kai to make eye contact with him.

"But only if he doesn't tell anyone."

As he agrees to these terms, Wyatt tells the truth."You could say I time traveled. I was from the early twenty first century and ended up here, a month before the most recent winter solstice... Actually, this isn't even my body, I'm sharing it with someone else."

Kai then think for a minute and then breaks out into a huge smile."Hahaha, I get it now. It was just a poor choice of words that led to my misunderstanding wasn't it?"

Wyatt smiles seeing that Kai now understood what he did and can appreciate it from an outside perspective so he tells him the truth.

"No no no, I knew about your flaw, and decided we could have some fun with it."

Kai suddenly stops laughing as Nephis gets even more pale.

"Wyatt, what did you do to Night?"

"His flaw is that he can distinguish truth from lies. So I, hehehe... I made him think that I was a monster pretending to be a human through some clever wordplay."

Nigh catatonic, Nephis mumbles out:"Why, what could you possibly stand to gain?"

"Entertainment obviously, not just for me but for him. I suppose I though he would've enjoyed it more."

'He certainly enjoyed it when Sunny made embellishments in the novel.'

"On a more serious note, I needed to quickly go to the Memory market, and he happened to be within view. So I got him to lead me there."

Kai is simply looking on with wide eyes while he's digesting this new information."What's going on?! Who are you people?"

Sensing a problem, Wyatt rushing to soothe Kai."I know it's a lot to take in. I'll tell you more when you're ready. Just remember to keep it a secret."

Kai nods and the conversation ends._______________________________________________________________

After Kai left, Sunny and Wyatt are in their room and are currently looking at a set of black stone armor, sitting uselessly in the corner of their room.

'(So how do we fix this? Do you think our blood would work?)'

'[It should. Our Blood Essence has shown a remarkable affinity for Memories. Why should this one be any different?]'

'(Because we've never tested it on a Memory that had its very underlying thread broken.)'

'[You never know until you try.]'

Creating an outlet for their blood, they let it fall onto the Mantle.

The blood flowing onto the Memory created a familiar sizzling noise and then turned black, as though the energy within the blood was being used to feed the armor.

Underneath the blood, cracks were starting to form on a thin top layer, and the more blood there was, the larger the cracks became.

Finally, the stone layer finally broke away and was replaced with an equally dark but far lighter and tougher onyx-metal layer.

Un-summoning it, Wyatt looked at the runes for it.

Memory: [Man... the... orl...]Memory Rank: Ascended.Memory Tier: VIMemory Type: Armor.Memory Description: [???.]Memory Enchantments: [???.]Enchantment Description: [???.]

'So the surface healed, but the weave hidden deep underneath it wasn't?' 'Then how do I fix the damn thing?'

Thankfully, the armor was at least fixed enough to be worn by Sunny without him being crushed under the weight.

Even if it was a little heavy, it was still well within the limits of his ability to wear, and when amplified by the shadows, he would be a terrifying force, probably among the top ten within the BrightCastle even without any other tricks.

They then tested its durability against the Midnight Shard, which didn't even leave a scratch.

Even without all the enchantments, it still fulfilled its duty as an Ascended armor of the sixth rank. But that wouldn't stop Wyatt from trying to figure out how to fix it properly.

Beyond its defense it had even greater utility by covering  most of their body, including a helmet that completely covered his face, save for a small section of his eyes that could be covered by a visor.

When wearing it, he would be much harder to recognize as Sunny.

Unfortunately, in its crippled state, it didn't offer any mental protection. If Gunlaug were to show himself for a surprise inspection of the castle, then he would have no choice but to not look straight at the BrightLord due to his Transcendent Echos mental suppression effect.

'Oh well, if he does, there shouldn't be a problem anyway. I've done nothing to attract any attention from him.'

'Now then, onto the headband.'

Summoning a smooth circular headband made out of lustrous polished silver, he placed it on his head and started walking around.

He was startled when he noticed himself walking much slower and almost fell at first, but managed to catch himself, in large part thanks to his quickened reaction time.

"Sssuunnnyyyy-- ohhh... ssooorrryy."

'[Sunny, what would you say, almost two times faster, right?]''(Yeah about twice as fast, but it can be improved. I'm gonna add the shadows.)''[I was just about to suggest that, let's do it.]'

When augmented with the three shadows and amplified by Wyatt's ability, the world moved at a snails pace. If before everything was noticably slower, now it would be hard to tell if something was even moving.

'Amazing, absolutely amazing. This is ten fold though acceleration. How fast can this Memory's second enchantment make me think? I almost want to get into a life or death situation to find out. Or what about when combined with the Crown Shard? The possibilities are truly endless.'

Getting back to reality, Wyatt uses this opportunity to quickly talk to Sunny about a way to separate their identities even with the same body.

Excitedly, Wyatt gets Sunny's attention.

'[Sunny, Sunny!]'

'(Yes, yes?)'

'[I know that you want to have an identity you can do anything with, without worrying about messing up my plans. Right?]'

'(Ye-)'

'[Well I certainly do! Anyway I've got a plan! We take a Shard with us, along with our mundane clothing, along with the Puppeteer's Shroud, and then leave through the window so no one notices. Once outside we tatter up our clothes and armor to look like we just fought a huuuge battle with an Awakened creature and barely survived and managed to get a Soul Shard. It's the perfect compromise! You get your weak and unimposing persona, and I get my strong and enigmatic "Unknown" persona whenever your not doing something!]'

Thinking about the plan for a while, Sunny can't help but feel impressed.

'(When did you think of this?)' Sunny questions as his curiosity gets the better of him.

Amused, Wyatt chuckles dryly.'[We both spend half our time as disembodied voices. I'm sure you also have your fair share of plans.]'

'( ... true.)''(But let me make one simple revision to you plan, we need to take our whole bag of Soul Shards with us.)'

'[Why?]'

'(Ha, it's actually amazing how little you know about the value of these Shards. Let me give you a little lesson.)'

Wyatt laughs and humorously prods at Sunny.

'[Oh, with your background? You plan to teach me about money? I'll have you know I've taken an Economics class before.]'

'(I'd say my background gives me a special point of view on the value of these sorts of things. Or perhaps your two hundred year old Economics class also included a lesson on the monetary value associated with the fifty or so precious little glowing rocks in our bag?)'

Chuckling, he then takes a second before responding.

'[Well, you got me there. I can't wait to learn more about how the world works. I'm all ears.]'

'(Alright, might as well start from the beginning, even if there are none of those here...A Dormant Soul Shard is worth an insane amount of money, and I mean absolutely life changing, at least for someone from the Outskirts.)'

'[Pardon me teacher, but just what do you mean by life changing?]'

'(Right, I suppose you wouldn't understand. When I say life changing, I mean that there have been stories of some lucky Outskirts rats managing to become true citizens after finding, and more importantly, killing a Dormant creature following a gate opening... wait a minute, do you understand what I mean when  I say "gate openings" and "true citizens"?)'

'[Yeah, but how strong are Dormant creatures if even someone from the outskirts can kill one?]'

'(Only the luckiest of unlucky bastards can kill them actually, mostly because finding a monster vulnerable enough to be killed with a gun is something very few people have happen to them. The rest just get chewed up. Or so I've heard, my survival insticts are quite strong so I've never actually been anywhere near a gate opening.)'

At this point, Sunny has retaken control and is currently standing by the large window. His gaze focused on the people in the BrightSlums. Seemingly looking back at a time where his own life was constantly in danger, just like their's.

As he thinks some more, he realizes that he was constantly in danger up until about five hours ago, when he entered the castle.

'(Now then, onto Awakened Soul Shards. In the real world, they have immense value. If you were to bring only the Awakened Soul Shards in our bag back to Earth, you would probably be richer than a vast majority of the human population, only the most successful Awakened would be more financially successful than you, and you'd be the envy of every mundane human on the planet.)'

Noticing something wrong with this logic, Wyatt brings it up.

'[But Sunny, you're failing to account for one crucial factor. We're not on earth, we're still in the Dream Realm. Comparing our Soul Shards to those that have been transported to earth would be ridiculous.]'

Sunny smirks when he hears that, as though he was intentionally setting a trap with his words, and Wyatt fell right into it.

'(I completely agree, it would be the height of stupidity to think that the value of our Shards and Earth Shards are the same, after all...Ours are far, far more valuable.)'

'[What do you mean?]'

'(Haven't you realized yet, or perhaps you've known it for so long that you simply forgot it.)'

'(People here are desperate, every last one of them. Even if they walk around with the same worries that people back on earth have, there is one fundamental truth that they cannot ignore.)'

Unclear on where Sunny is taking this, Wyatt makes sure to giv this his full attention.

'(That unlike the truly affluent areas of earth that this place tries to copy, where the threat of getting brutally ripped apart by a Nightmare Creature is hidden by millions of soldiers, thousands of kilometers of wall, and hundreds of millions of bodies... this place is defended from hundreds of Fallen by, at best, dozens of well trained soldiers, a thin castle wall, and the few hundreds of frail bodies in the slums.)'

The realization hits him like a truck as he now understands the true value of his unassuming bindle.

'[So what you mean to say, is that on Earth, where there are enough people to protect a stable society from Nightmare Creatures, the value brought in by a Soul Shard is much smaller than it would be in a society where personal power is the main factor that determines ones survival?]'

'(Yes.)'

'[I see... Well you've given me plenty of food for thought. To be honest I thought you would've brought up the Supreme Soul Shard we're keeping in our bag.]'

'(If you didn't agree with me, I certainly would've brought that up as well.)'

'[You  know, if you want to protect our precious Shards, I know the perfect place. It even has an in-built security system, but we'd have to postpone our plans and probably spend at least tonight outside of the Castle.]'

Sunny's eyebrows quickly go up in surprise, or at least as quickly as it can go with ten times through acceleration.

'(But why? Can't we at least spend the night here, laying down on a nice bed?)'

'[Of course not. If these Shards are as valuable as you say, then I imagine we've cause somewhat of a stir within the castle, y'know what with us spending hundreds in a single afternoon and whatnot. But don't worry, the place were going to also has a bed, so we can rest there.]'

____________________________________________

Nephis POV

Confused... would probably be the best way to describe Nephis' current state. As usual, it began with a certain little brat who can't read the room.

A few minutes ago, she learned that her idol, whose music she's been listening to for years, is actually a Sleeper in one of the most inhospitable environments in the Dream Realm.

What's worse, is that her chance to get to know him may have just been torn to shreds by that same little brat.

'Deep breaths... you can still get to know him. Dinner is going to start soon, maybe I can explain what happened in a bit more detail.'

Though as she thinks on it, there isn't much she can explain. As immature as Wyatt sometimes acts, he's also somewhat of an enigma.

His abilities are mysterious, and the fact that he is so deeply intertwined with Sunny, makes it hard to determine where the Divine Aspect of Sunny ends and where Wyatt's Aspect begins.

As she thinks even more, Wyatt and his "Divinations", or whatever his method of obtaining future knowledge is, are extremely spotty, and yet somehow perfectly specific to the problems they face.

Fortunately she herself is friends with another oracle, and can get a viewpoint that almost no one else can offer.

"Cas, what do you think Wyatt's ability is? That allows him to know so much about whats happening."

Looking at the downcast girl in front of her, she also realizes that it's been confirmed that they know what she did early on in their journey. Even if Nephis understands why they were mad at Cassie, she still wishes that he could be a bit less blunt about it.

'At least its not that hard to distract her from her worries. As long as something interesting is happening, she can focus on that instead of the guilt gnawing away at her. She probably gets it from Wyatt."

Looking up, Cassie begins to think hard about Nephis' question and she soon comes to a realization.

"Neph, I've got it! It was so easy, I just had to follow the clues. Wyatt is clearly... a regressor!"

Confused, Nephis asks for clarification.

"What exactly is a regressor?"

"It's someone who goes back in time to when they were younger. Maybe this isn't Wyatt's first time going through all this and thats how he knows all about this place  with so much detail, while also knowing practically nothing of the outside world."

After her outburst, Cassie's enthusiasm wanes.

"... or at least I though so, but there's just too much stuff he doesn't know for that theory to make sense. I actually have no idea how he does it."

As she finishes speaking, Wyatt walks out of his door and into the hallway while wearing mundane clothes over the Puppeteer's Shroud. After swiftly greeting them, he gets down to business immediately.

"Ok Nephis, quick warning before you go to the dining area. Caster is an assassin sent by the Sovereigns, so be on guard. Also please tell Kai I'm sorry. Anyway I've got another errand to run so I'll probably see you tomorrow.  Bye-bye."

With that, he runs back into his room and locks the door behind him, leaving no time for either of the girls to ask about the nature of this "errand". They do, however, look at the now locked door in complete disbelief.

'He's lucky I have bigger problems to deal with... like Caster. I knew that some of those Legacies would be after my life. Hehehe, I suppose being friends with him isn't all that bad.'

As she look over at Cassie, she sees the blind girl smiling at her.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, I'm just happy your happy."

As she says this, Nephis starts feeling flustered.

'Oh no, did I laugh out loud?! I must've learnt it from him. I take it back, being friends with him is definitely that bad.'

"Ahem. We should start heading over to the cafeteria."

"Alright."

_______________________________________

Both Nephis and Cassie can be seen standing in front of the giant twin doors leading to the cafeteria.

Figuring that theres no point in delaying her meeting with the Han Li boy, and her probably unhappy idol, she opens the wooden doors and leads the way for her companion by carefully grabbing her hand.

As they enter, everyone's gaze falls on the two newcomers. Some out of curiosity, but quite a few with a more malicous glint in their eyes. Especially from the guards.

Nephis is completely unimpressed by what she sees, and even begins feeling slightly protective of the blind girl beside her.

'Pathetic. Even those two could keep better control of themselves. And I was wearing nothing but seaweed for almost a month. Although thinking back on it, Wyatt didn't even seem to care the slightest bit about my lack of decent clothing. I wonde-'

She's cut of from her thoughts by a tug on her hand coming from her partner.

"Is everything alright Neph?"

A small smile forms on her face as she answers the girl.

"Yes."

'Thinking about him isn't worth the headache anyway.'

She then scans the room from left to right, quickly taking notice of Caster. However, she pretends that she simply didn't notice him and continues scanning.

She also sees a familiar guant teenager being quietly led away by guards but pays it no mind.

What she really cares about is finding Night, and she does. On the other side of the room, clearly keeping his distance from others, as though trying to deal with the day's event in peace.

Nephis decides to walk to the lone singers table with Cassie in tow, to both smooth things over with him and probe Caster by seeing the Legacy's response to being ignored.

"Hello Night, do you mind if I sit next to you?"

Kai's eyes go wide upon hearing her voice and he looks to see if a certain miscreant is following her. Fortunately he seems to be somewhere else.

He then thinks over her request and allows her to sit by him.

Getting in the seat closest to him, with Cassie next to her, an almost invisible blush appears on her face.

"Nephis was it? It's nice to meet you."

So excited to hear the man who's music she's been listening to for years address her personally, she almost lets more emotion show on her face.

"Yes. Let me introduce myself formally. My name is Nephis, and my friend right here is Cassia."

A thoughtful look appears behind his eyes, knowing that the name sounds slightly familiar to him, even though he can't quite place where he heard it before.

"In that case it's a pleasure to meet you too Cassia."

Flustered, Cassie looks down shyly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, and please, call me Cassie."

A gleaming smile appears on his face, which would probably have made Cassie faint if she could see it.

His smile turns sour however, when he sees a gaggle of stray guards approaching the table.

"I'm sorry girls, it appears that a bunch of thugs have you in their crosshairs. I'll try my best to prevent them from doing anything drastic."

Nephis, who doesn't want to inconvenience the poor man anymore, decides to take matters into her own hands.

"It's okay, I can easily take them on."

"I've no doubt, if the company you keep is any indication of your abilities. But that won't work in the castle. There are rules that need to be followed, at peril of your own life."

This dire warning is enough to temporarily calm her down right before the guards make it to their table.

"Listen to him well little lady, this Bright Castle is a place where laws must be followed. Perhaps if you come with us we can "teach you" a thing or two."

Inside, Nephis is seething, wishing to send a message to the whole castle that she shouldn't be messed with.

'How disgusting. I might also have to "teach them" a thing or two.'

She calmy threatens them back, mostly for their own sake.

"Stay well away from me and my friend if you have any value for you lives."

The guards are indignant at being spoken back to, especially as it's happening in front of everyone. However, they know better than to mess with this girl any further as it takes only one look at her to see that she would follow through on her threat without hesitation.

But instead of quitting, they try to save face and continue making enemies out of her. They even go so far as to put their hands on the hilts of their sheathed swords in a clear display of force.

"This little wench has no respect for her superiors, perhaps her friend would be more willing to join us."

At this point, Kai has had more than enough of the verbal diarrhea coming out of this mans mouth.

"Sethor, surely the Bright Lord wouldn't be too happy if he saw what was going on here, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could lead your men away from my friends."

The leader of this group of guards is starting to get more and more desperate as he sees none of his attempts working. He then pulls his sword out of his sheath and starts pressing Kai as well. At the same time small sparks of light begin forming in Nephis' hands as she keeps it hidden behind her back.

"You MUTT! You washed-out pop star. Friends?! WHAT FRIENDS? I've never seen you hang around these people before! So if you don't stay out of th-"

"SETHOR"

From behind the group of guards, an authoritative voice can be heard. The voice of course, belonging to the scion of the Han Li Clan.

"S-Sir Caster! Might there be a problem?"

With a dark look on his face, he glares angrily at the leader.

"Those girls you speak so rudely towards are my classmates from the Academy, now leave us be."

"O-of course. As you wish sir."

Once the guards have scurried away, the handsome Legacy extends his hand out to Nephis while also giving a polite smile. Nephis then accepts the handshake much to the delight of Caster.

"Hello, Lady Changing Star. You can't even begin to imagine how happy I am to see you alive."

________________________________________________

Stev POV

Walking through a dark and dingy hallway. Starting off the day so successful and then burning like a boy who flew to close to the sun. A life where no one ever appreciates your good works. A truly dystopian world where no one can live peacefully on their own merits.

'Or at least that's how it feels. I swear to gods, you have one successful day where someone takes a fifth of the merchandise off of your hands, and all your boss can think about is "Who the hell has that kind of spare change" and "I want all available hands to find out this man's identity". Not even a hint of appreciation for his hardworking employees.'

In reality, Stev was currently walking through an ornately decorated hall that would lead straight to the throne of the Bright Lord. This time to meet a artisan with a very special Aspect.

The ability to find the location of all those who the target has ever met.

'Still, the Lord is a cruel man with no appreciation for his poor subjects. What kind of sociopath makes his subordinates leave the throne room, walk to the end of this overly long hall, and call them back not fifteen minutes later just so he can think in private. Does he not realize his thoughts are already private. That fool, I'm gonna make sure to ask for triple rations for tonight after this grueling workout.'

As he reached the luxurious door being protected by two high level guards, they let him in.

Entering the throne room, he bows to show his respect for the Lord, sitting calmy on a golden throne.

"Ah Stev, you know you needn't do such a thing." Came the voice of the terrifying existence known as the Bright Lord.

Unfortunately, his words turn out to be a lie, as when Stev stops bowing and faces the Golden Serpent, he develops an overpowering feeling of dread. Not wanting to lose composure, he simply looks down on the ground.

'Y-you bastard. I know you can turn of that suppression effect on your Echo.'

To his Lord's left, he notices a short haired girl in her twenties, also looking down to not be affected by the horrible mental suppression.

"Now then, say hello to Annika. She'll simply be checking if that interesting man you met has left the castle."

Stev seems surprised by this and tries not to let it show on his face. Instead he asks a question in the most respectful way he can.

"I apologize sir, but I fail to imagine what kind of idiot would leave your benevolent protection willingly."

Hearing this, the Bright Lord sighs.

"It is strange isn't it. The moment you told me about him, I assembled a small group to go to his room and make sure he was comfortable with his stay. Yet the moment my men got there, they found a locked door. Now as the exemplary employees they are, they wouldn't let such a measly thing stop them, and so they quickly made their way inside. But do you know what they found?"

'Wait a minute! Isn't that just breaking into someones residence?!'

"I'm afraid this subordinate of yours is too unintelligent to figure it out."

"...They found nothing but an open window... No clothes, no bag full of Shards, and only the key to the room sitting on a table. That is why I wish for her to use her power to find just where that rat scurried off to."

"I understand My Lord."

"Good. Annika, use your ability."

"Yes My Lord."

____________________

Nephis POV

Nephis gives her own smile to the Legacy, one thats been so well practiced that it can't be distinguished from a fake one anymore.

"Hello Caster, it's certainly been a while since we've seen each other."

Nephis is careful to steer clear of the idol's flaw by being vague with her words. After all, it wouldn't do to have everyone know she and Caster aren't on great terms.

Caster the turns his smile towards the blind girl.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again as well Cassia."

A part of Cassie is appalled that this man is talking so cordially with her friend when he intends to kill her but masks her dark emotions behind a mask of indignace.

"Hmph, you never respected me back at the Academy. You only tolerated me because I was with Neph and you wanted to talk to her."

The smile on Caster's face falters a little.

"Yes, I see now that I was wrong for my actions back then. Lady Changing Star certainly knows how to pick her friends, not just anyone can survive in the Labyrinth for months."

The scions face turns even more dour as he remembers something.

"Yes, not just anyone indeed. Did you know that six people were sent to the Forgotten Shore this year, and yet we were the only ones to survive?"

'That's odd, Wyatt said that eight people were sent here. If he counted himself that is.'

Noticing something off with Caster's information, Nephis decides to ask just where he got it from.

Fortunately, Caster misunderstood her questioning as simply wondering how he knew such things, so he answered honestly.

"There's an artisan in the castle that can find the location of all those a person has ever met. It's a slightly creepy ability, but also effective, using some kind of divination that I don't understand. Perhaps Cassia will understand it, I believe she is also a Diviner, correct?"

'Ah, now I get it. If Cassie's abilities don't work, then why should some random artisan's ability have any better effect.'

"Yes she is, but divination encompasses a wide variety of Aspects."

Caster then laughs and mentions something in a self deprecating matter.

"Yes, I suppose someone with my humble background wouldn't know a lot."

Kai can hardly believe his ears. He's now imagining just what kind of background this Nephis lady must have to be treated with so much respect from a hunter of the host, and a Legacy no less. He even came up with a cute nickname for her.

Or perhaps:

Changing Star was a True Name

At this point Kai is staring a hole through the newly dubbed Changing Star and Caster chooses this moment to leave.

"I deeply apologize that our reunion was so short, but I have to go prepare for another hunt today, it's actually my second one with the Host."

Kai then looks at Caster with disdain and asks a question.

"Which pathfinder do you work under?"

Caster then looks around nervously and simply decides not to answer then question with a curt apology before leaving.

The singer then shifts his attention towards Nephis and queries her with a grave tone.

"Just who... are you?"

'Haha, this is my chance to impress him... WAIT A MINUTE!!! Why do I care about impressing anyone?! Dammit. I need to stop associating with the wrong people.'

"Ahem. I am Nephis. Daughter of Broken Sword and Smile of Heaven. Granddaughter of Immortal Flame. And the last member of the Immortal Flame clan."

Kai then goes silent. After all, who wouldn't have trouble dealing with this amount of excitement in a single day. But instead of getting back up and responding with a smile like usual, something else happened.

He slumped over and fell out of his chair.

'NIIIIGHT. ARE YOU OKAY?!?!'

"Neph, is everything alright? He seems a bit quiet."

In the coldest tone she can muster, she responds.

"Of course. Everything is fine. He just fainted."

"... what?"

"He'll live. Oh, by the way Night, Wyatt is sorry."

________________________________________________Wyatt POV

In the far reaches of the BrightSlums the duo finally finds what they're looking for. A dirty hovel that's a step above it's neighbors. Which isn't a very high bar to clear as it's main improvement is simply having a door and slightly less debris surrounding it.

The skull of a Nightmare Creature above the door also adds a nice touch.

But as they arrive, Wyatt realizes something and stands still.

'[Sunny, I made a mistake.]'

'(What is it now?)'

'[You remember the key that Harper gave us?]'

'(Yeah, I already realized it. You forgot it, didn't you? Just as well anyway, I doubt we'd be able to use that room again.)'

'[What does that mean?]'

'(It means I sent a shadow behind us to check out what happened, and our room got ransacked not long after we left.)'

'[That castle contains a bunch of thugs doesn't it?]'

'(You're also a bit of a thug. I've never even seen the strategy you used to strong arm that poor man. I mean, using someone's own flaw against them like that is devious. I'm envious of your methods.)'

'[Putting it like that, I sound straight up evil, but I swear I only meant it in good fun.]'

'(Sure, sure. Whatever you say.)'

'[...wait, you can't lie, does that me-]'

At that moment, a voice can be heard from the dusty cabin, sending shivers down his spine.

"Hello, is that you!! Did you by any chance come to refund your purchase of my bag?"

From the outside, Effie can be seen exiting her humble abode and whats worse, she's not even wearing any clothing.

'Ugh. How undignified!'

Noticing Wyatt gaze, Effie then grins.

"Or perhaps you'd like something else in exchange? But you'll have to treat me to dinner first. A girl's gotta eat y'know."

Walking closer so he doesn't have to yell, Wyatt gives his answer.

"Have you no shame? Put some clothes on."

Effire sticks out her tongue at Wyatt's dull reaction. She does however, don a Memory to cover herself up, a bit at least.

"No fun whatsoever these kids are, maybe I should've tried teasing those girls instead."

She then looks Wyatt up and down and gives him a questioning look.

"Why do your own clothes barely cover you up? Is that the best that Bright Castle can offer nowadays? Or did you just come out of a fight? And why in the name of the gods did you put your mundane clothing over your armor?"

Sure enough, Wyatts mundane clothes were torn horribly in an attempt to make himself look more pathetic, and the Puppeteer's Shroud, while not nearly as damaged, did look like it just got out through a terrifying battle. And while Effie didn't mention it, he also smeared dirt all over himself.

"It's because this makes me look more like a backround character."

Effie seems like she simply can't understand his reasoning.

"A what?"

Wyatt quickly dismisses her and gets back on track.

"That's not important. What is important is what I need. And what I need is a trip to the cathedral. So what'll it cost?"

End Chapter 16