Julian and Angelica are waiting outside of the theater, staring at the flow of nobles exiting it to return to their carriages. They eventually see Nyx among them, surrounded by a small crowd of people asking her for her autograph among other questions. She spots the both of them, and waves to her group before making her way through the crowd to join them.
- "I had fun!" Nyx declares as the miniature stars surrounding her slowly start to fizzle out.
- "Seems like you got pretty popular." Julian comments. "Good luck with covert operations from now on. Granted, it can still be salvaged if you keep a low profile for a little while."
- "Ah. That's probably not gonna happen!"
- "Huh? Why?"
Date: The same day (July 21st), about an hour earlier
Nyx was backstage with the rest of the comedians, chatting with Marcus, who was playing the main character. They were all drinking from glass water bottles, their throats being dangerously dry after they threw everything into the improvised final act Nyx forced them into.
- "I thought you were trying to ruin my life, but you gave me a stronger debut that I could've ever imagined!" He exclaims. "I'm eternally grateful, uh… what was your name again?"
- "Nyx!" She replies. "And don't worry, I'd never try to ruin anybody's life!" She suddenly steps forward, bringing her face centimeters from his and blinding him with the light of her eyes. "If anyone that pretends to be me says otherwise, don't listen to her!"
- "Uh, I'll... keep that in mind?... Regardless, thank you Nyx!"
- "So your name truly is Nyx!" Balthazar shouts as he appears next to them in a puff of green smoke. "How peculiar!"
- "Oh, hello Balthazar! I really like your theater." Nyx comments. "Probably the second best I've ever seen!"
- "Oho? And which one might hold the first place? I should meet its owner to learn a thing or two!"
- "Oh I don't think you could do that, their civilization collapsed some time ago."
- "...Is that so? How unfortunate." He readjusts his hat, and the floating lotus above it descends to land on top of it. "Regardless, I would like to have you perform here again in the future! It's not every day I get to meet such a talented actor, and I sure won't let that chance slip through my fingers! I particularly enjoyed that character you portrayed. When I read over the script for this historical play, I always felt like it was missing something. And you managed to capture that something, improvise the perfect lines and lift up the entire play! You would do a killing in Utopia, trust my word on that. Here's my card if you ever want to move countries by the way. Do drop by my theater there!"
He hands her a green card, with a picture of his face drawn on it and playfully winking at whoever looked at it. Intrigued, Nyx winks back at the card and the face silently laughs.
- "I don't think I'm going to be traveling to Utopia any time soon, but I can definitely come back to perform more!"
- "Perfect! I'll pay five thousand gold roses per performance."
- "Five thou-" Marcus chokes on the water he was drinking. "Huh?! I'm only paid one hundred!"
- "Worry not my dear friend, I've decided to increase your pay to three thousand roses!" Balthazar declares with a smile. "I run a meritocracy after all. You performed much better than I had anticipated. In fact, you all did!" He twirls, pointing his fingers at the rest of the cast. "You'll all be paid at least one thousand roses each, keep up the wonderful work!"
- "Three thousand…" Marcus repeats, agape. "My days of scraping by are finally over…"
- "How can you pay us this much?..." A woman in the crowd of comedians asks. "I'm worrying you might be spending your funds a little too recklessly, the theater's budget might suffer…"
- "I would gladly surrender all my riches for a truly soul-touching performance, for what good is money if it's not spent! And I believe that my money was more than well utilized, muhahaha!" His jolly laugh fills the backstage room as the comedians start discussing the opportunities that change in pay was going to present for them.
- "Alright, I need to go back to Julian and Angelica now!" Nyx says as she turns to leave.
- "Hold on, what is your last name?" Balthazar calls out. "It's going to be important for marketing purposes!"
- "I don't have one! Alice told me I couldn't call myself Kegan, so…"
- "Wait what?" Balthazar's smile turns confused. "Hold on, which family do you come from?"
- "The Kegan I guess?"
- "I don't remember a noble family called that in Crystal Rose… Curses! The last thing I need right now is a scandal! I knew the city was safe so I didn't invest much in the security detail, I don't want that going public…" He removes the green crystal lotus from his hat. "Do you mind if I run a quick verification?"
- "Sure!"
He whispers a few words into the lotus, and an almost inaudible voice replies to him from the petals. Threads of glittering pink light sprout from the object and create a shimmering sphere around Nyx, which then turns green after a few seconds. Balthazar has a sigh of relief as the lotus returns to the top of his hat on its own.
- "Alright it's fine, you're on the list of the invited families so no scandal there!" He says.
- "Am I? Which family? I remember Agnes saying I wasn't invited, which kind of made me sad…"
- "You truly are unaware? It would be the…"
Date: The same day, back in the present
- "IRONSIDE?!" Julian screams, garnering a few nasty looks from the bothered nobles in their vicinity.
- "Mhm!" Nyx nods.
- "Never a dull moment with you around, is there?" Angelica loudly laughs. "To clarify, who is this Alice you mentioned?"
- "Vanessa's mother."
- "So your vessel's mother. Then this would mean you're my cousin once removed, and uncle Theo's granddaughter!"
- "Alice…" Julian mumbles. "Theo's daughter was also called Alice… Wait, is this seriously happening right now?"
- "The gods of fate have their ways, even in a foreign land!" Angelica cackles.
- "I remember Alice being a lot stronger than the average woman of her age." Nyx observes. "I guess that's because she's from Angelica's family!"
- "And this is why you're so physically strong…" Julian replies. "I figured it was just you being you, but I hate that this actually makes more sense."
- "You seem quite displeased indeed!" Angelica grins as she throws her arm around Nyx's shoulders, mimicking the smile plastered on the latter's face.
- "I'm… just gonna hope you don't influence her more than you already have. You two being around each other is a disaster for my stress levels."
They climb back into Angelica's carriage. When the door closes and the vehicle starts moving, Nyx immediately locks eyes with Julian.
- "So, did you get any information about Lady Night?" She asks.
- "Huh?" Julian blinks twice, confused.
- "Lady Night! Investigation! Info?"
- "Right uh, it's just… I thought you'd be interested in knowing exactly how things went down first. I think my brain's struggling to process that you're acting normal for once."
- "Oh I absolutely want to hear that story! But I want to know about that first." She looks down at his feet. "Also you should probably get someone to check your leg. You probably don't want to end up with a cast on it, they're really uncomfortable!"
- "Oh that? It's not that bad…" Julian looks down at his injury, and notices that while he still felt the pain of the deep cut left by one of the nobles turning the ground into spikes of marble, his pants were completely unharmed. He could still see a thin line of blood soaking the fabric from the inside though. "The hell? How're my clothes fine?"
- "There is a reason why Vincent is such a renowned tailor!" Angelica replies. "He's the only one I can trust to make clothes I can confidently wear to battle. Granted they aren't armor, so you'll still die, just in style!"
- "Great. I'll just drop by the infirmary when we get back." He glances at Nyx. "You're… acting a lot different. If I didn't know you already were some entity possessing someone, I'd think something hijacked your body."
- "Is that so?" Nyx tilts her head to the side.
- "Well it's probably for the best anyways." He leans back. "I'll tell you the gist of it right now, then we'll probably get details from Agnes after interrogation."
- "Alrighty then!"
Julian proceeds to tiredly recount the events that transpired a few hours earlier, and when he is done, Nyx was frowning while holding her chin.
- "The church of the Eternal Night?..." She repeats. "That's really close to the name of one of the first serious cults dedicated to me…"
- "What was their actual name?" Julian asks.
- "The children of the Eternal Night. They sacrificed a lot of animals and other people to me, to show that they loved me back! It was really sad when they all died in an all out war after they kidnapped the princess of the Reinos kingdom to sacrifice her to me."
- "I'm… definitely sure you're the one who misses them the most."
- "Now tell me what happened in detail!" Her eyes sparkle as she perks up on her seat, excitedly kicking her legs.
- "There we go…" Julian sighs.
Date: July 22nd, year 1286 Location: Headquarters of the Fourth Branch, Crystal Rose
Nyx wakes up to the sound of four quick knocks to her door. She jumps down from her bed and runs to the door.
- "Julian!" She exclaims as she opens the door. "Any updates?"
- "By Solom- How did you even know it was me?" Julian replies, slightly flinching. He was wearing his usual white hoodie again, along with casual gray sweatpants.
- "I know the way you knock!"
- "...Yeah okay. Why are you still wearing Vincent's dress? Did you sleep in that thing?..."
- "I like how it looks! So? Any news from Agnes about Lady Night? And what about your brother? I really liked that little twist at the end of your story yesterday!"
- "I'll see Nicolas on my own time, thank you very much. Don't rush me, it's only been a day." He frowns. "And we have bigger fish to fry. We're interrogating Regulus today to gather evidence for his trial. Agnes insisted that we both be present."
- "And me too!" Beatrice appears from behind Julian, apparently having been hidden there during the entire exchange.
- "Beatrice!" Nyx exclaims, and the latter jumps into her arms. "You should've been there yesterday, it was great!"
- "I wish I was! But Agnes told me I couldn't go…"
- "I'll just take you to my next performance! I'm sure Balthazar won't mind!"
- "Yay!"
- "By the way, I looked for you everywhere last night to ask you if you wanted to know what happened with Julian in the theater, but you weren't in your room. I waited for a long time too, but you didn't show up so I just went to bed. Where were you, so I can find you next time?"
- "Uh… I was running! On the roof!"
- "Running? Why?"
- "For… health?"
- "Oh. Right, humans need to do that."
- "You're worrying for your health at ten years old?" Julian asks, raising an eyebrow.
- "Yes! Humans age by themselves, you know! We need to stay in shape, while elves and stuff can just stay in shape!" Beatrice starts running in place to demonstrate.
- "Right, that's a good point. I never really think about these things, but good on you for making sure you stay healthy." He turns to Nyx again. "You must be wondering why Beatrice is tagging along."
- "..." Nyx simply stares at him with her usual smile, her eyes empty of thought.
- "Right, of course you aren't. I'll say it anyways, but we found a small sealed box in Regulus' pocket. He claims that the key was destroyed, and after a quick search of our- his home, we didn't find anything that looked like it could open it. We called upon some of the best lockpickers working for the Guard, and most of them said it would take them a few months to open the box without damaging its contents since its lock is heavily enchanted. Agnes is hoping Beatrice could use her unique magic to open it faster and speed up the investigation."
- "I'll do my best!" Beatrice declares.
- "...I still don't know how much I like that idea…" Julian sighs as Nyx steps out into the corridor with them.
They all exit the tower, following Julian through the busy streets of the capital. On their way there, Nyx was waving at a multitude of shopkeepers and seemingly random bystanders, who happily waved back at her.
- "Do you know everyone in town or something?" Julian finally asks, after Nyx exchanges a series of high fives with a group of high schoolers passing by them.
- "Not yet!" Nyx joyfully replies.
- "She's been out in town most of the time." Beatrice observes, riding on Nyx's shoulders and slightly pouting.
- "Hm?" Nyx looks up at her. "Are you mad?"
- "...Nope."
- "Oh good then!"
- "..." Julian just facepalms, looking the other way.
They eventually stop in front of an imposing stone castle featuring six tall towers, arranged in a circle around the main building. Nyx squints at the towers.
- "I thought I told Solomon to stop letting his followers mingle with Dimensional magic. It's way too dangerous." She comments. "And seriously, am I not enough?... Do people really need to go to other realms?"
- "You can tell that much just from looking at it?" Julian asks, turning towards her.
- "Nothing else requires that much magical energy. Each of these towers is a magical reactor producing enough light to level a small village just by being unleashed in its raw form." She frowns. "And that's the least dangerous part. These are probably being used to keep at least one portal open."
- "Seriously?... How can it be worse than that?"
- "Foreign realms are not things for humans to toy with, and I'll forever stand by that. I love when they're constantly innovating and stuff, but there has to be limits. In other realms, there are… beings that I didn't create, and places I can't see without physically traveling to them. And the last one I saw in person threatened to wipe out humanity, so I just had Serafim invade her realm and kill her. It took him a lot longer than usual to recover."
- "That's… pretty concerning. But don't worry, we've been perfecting Dimensional magic for centuries now, it's perfectly safe. Well, save for the reactors blowing up I guess."
- "I've heard that one too many times… But oh well, we don't have time to dwell on this right now!"
- "You, concerned about time? You might be possessed after all." He jokes as they enter the building through the front gate, a large stone brick arch.
Large letters were carved into the arch, spelling "HEADQUARTERS OF THE SECOND BRANCH: CONTAINMENT". Inside the building, they are met with a massive wooden front desk, behind which was sitting an equally massive man, leaning back on his chair and staring at the iron chandelier hanging from the brick ceiling above him. He was almost three meters tall, with bear ears perking up amidst his brown hair and sharp, black claws protruding from his fingertips. His black eyes shift downwards to look at them and bares his teeth, revealing two rows of sharp fangs.
- "State your business." He declares, his cavernous voice resonating in the main hall of the castle.
- "Trainee Julian Leventis and Nyx Ironside, under supervision of Agnes Syka." Julian replies, taking out his white card featuring the symbol of the Guard. "Here's my badge."
The man sits upright and reaches towards a small pair of black framed glasses on his desk. He adjusts them on his face, and lifts a small piece of paper from his desk with surprising dexterity.
- "Oh, you're here for an interrogation. Just follow along the corridor on my right and go through door number twenty two."
Julian nods and the group leaves through the corridor lit by iron torches burning with purple flames, stopping in front of said door. When Julian pushes it, he sees Agnes on the other side, sitting on a simple wooden chair in a small stone room with a wooden floor. A chiseled stone table was right in front of her, and across it was Julian's father, sitting on a similar chair. He was wearing his suit from the day before, but now had handcuffs around his hands made of white gold. Something resembling an elaborate metal furnace burning with blue flames on the far wall of the room was constantly feeding it magical energy to activate its magic-absorbing properties and prevent him from casting spells. Julian goes through the door, staring at Regulus who was blankly looking down at the table. However, he hears something akin to electricity crackling behind him, and when he turns he sees Nyx attempting to cross the door, but being blocked by a barrier of pure white light. Beatrice jumps off her shoulders and goes through the barrier just fine, turning back towards Nyx confused.
- "Nyx?..." She asks. "What's going on?"
- "The realm is naturally rejecting me…" Nyx replies. "Another reason why I don't like those! Give me a moment, I'll just-"
- "Unlock." Beatrice cuts, passing her hand through the barrier of white light. Part of it shatters, allowing Nyx through.
- "Oh? I'm through! Thank you Beatrice!"
- "No problem!"
- "Beatrice, how did you do that?..." Julian asks.
- "What? Huh… my magic?..."
- "It lets you unlock things, but you just broke a dimensional barrier. And there's no way you should have enough magical energy to do that in the first place."
- "It was really not that strong! Whoever made it didn't really mean to stop anything for too long."
- "How can you even quantify that?..."
- "Uh…"
- "Ahem." Agnes clears her throat. "I'm sure we can discuss this outside, right? We have a few things to do first."
- "Right." Julian sighs. "That's just weird, but I guess I won't complain. Humans are pretty good at figuring out magic after all."
- "Agnes, why do we have to be in another realm?" Nyx asks, walking up to the table and sitting on one of the empty chairs next to her.
- "This is Crystal Rose's most secure prison, and the Second Branch houses all of the most dangerous criminals in the kingdom here. Well, at least the ones that were caught. The director of the Second Branch is very proficient at Dimensional magic, so much so that he managed to create a massive artificial sub-realm to build the prison in. Nothing goes in or out without his approval, and escaping by force would not only require to beat the guards, but also to be able to cross realms, which is a very rare ability even among the most talented mages. Think about it as an added layer of security!"
- "Oh. I get it, but I still don't like it."
- "Why so?"
- "Let's not get into the specifics again for now." Julian cuts. "Last thing we need is Agnes also getting sidetracked."
- "Good point." Agnes slams her hands on the table as Regulus slowly raises his head to look at them. "Everyone sit down, and let's get that interrogation started!"