"Artifacts and Relics."
Lucid stood in front of what seemed to be a magic boutique store. He needed to secure supplies, specifically a rift seed stone for his mission. The one he had found on the train, when his companion vanished, was drained. He took the empty, grey husk from his pocket and held it up in the air.
"Does it work?" Alice asked.
"Mmmh, not sure," Lucid mumbled. "When I channel fate essence through it, nothing happens. It is dead."
"Well, it does not matter. Let us head to a shop nonetheless."
He looked up at the storefront. The title sign was tilted slightly to the right. The windows were patched up with wooden planks, and the whole place had a feeling of being one strong wind away from collapse. 'Still, the most sketchy places always have the best quality service,' Lucid thought, a lesson learned from food poisoning and bad experiences back on Earth.
They went inside. A rusty bell rang.
"Welcome in!"
As he looked around, he saw glass vials, dusty grimoires, and even caged animals that looked more confused than magical. This was anything but normal. One thing caught his attention immediately: the stones. Particularly the ones next to a strange artifact that looked like a compass made of bone. A rift seed stone. A blue stone that held fate essence inside it, capable of briefly influencing the threads of fate.
He approached the counter and looked up, ready to speak his order to the store clerk.
He froze.
"Holy... it is you!"
The weird woman!
In front of him stood a familiar figure. A woman with a witch hat double the size of her head, moss-green hair falling over her shoulders, and a mischievous smile. Her eyes were slightly obscured by the hat's deep brim.
"Oh my, my, oh my... a familiar customer." Her voice was that same raspy, playful croon. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. It is rude not to say hello before barging into someone's sanctuary, young man."
"Stop talking like that. You are not an old hag," Lucid said flatly. "Do you want retirement or something? What is the deal with this parade?"
"Such rowdy behavior." She sounded mock-choked, feigning hurt but with a clear hint of tease. "Did your parents teach you no manners, young man?"
He shook his head. He had not come here for playful banter.
"Lucid, I suggest you buy that one. I do not know why, but it seems more potent." Alice's voice was strained.
He looked with the edges of his eyes to a stone a bit darker in color than the others. Alice was right. This one seemed particularly deep and potent.
"Hngghh..." Alice groaned in his mind, a sound of real pain.
"Hey... are you alright?"
"It is okay. I just feel..." Her voice faded.
'It is so unlike her...'
"I will take the—" Lucid began.
"The black seed rift? Coming right away." The woman cut him off smoothly.
How did she know? Was it because he had stared at it? No, that could not be it. It was as if she had picked up on his silent conversation with Alice. This woman... who was she? She was chilling, yet so playful, teasing, and cunning.
She placed the dark stone on the counter, looking at him with that sharp, dangerous, cunning smile that sent a shiver down his spine.
"How much?"
She looked confused for a moment, her lips parting slightly. "Oh. A price. Your soul, perhaps?"
"What?"
She giggled. "Do you have no knowledge of barter? I swear, young people these days. It is on the house."
Lucid did not question it. He reached for the stone. As his fingers closed around it, her hands wrapped around his, her grip cool and firm.
"The Scattered Realms... the rifts... the Illuminated... they are all connected, yet so different. Could it be her doing, or someone else's? One cannot know." Her voice dropped to a whisper meant only for him. "But yet here you stand, in the middle of it all. A blank paper. A blank canvas. Pristine." She smiled, tilting her head to the right. "Do not screw it up, young man."
'Huh?'
Lucid turned away and walked out, closing the door behind him. The whole interaction felt wrong. He had met her earlier as a fortune teller who read his fate for free, and now she was handing him this valuable stone for free. It was so wrong. 'These cost like five gold coins.'
"At least you have it now, Lucid," Alice said, her voice still weak.
He nodded, tucking the stone into an inner pocket.
A shadow, a dark figure, followed him from the mouth of an alley. "You brat," they spat under their breath. It was the same leader from the group of assassins he had encountered before, the one whose wrist he had grabbed.
The man unsheathed a dagger, ready to strike his target in broad daylight. A bandaged hand shot from the darkness of a deeper alley, wrapping around the assassin's neck from behind and yanking him into the blackness.
"Grh! Let me go!"
He struggled. An impact hit his left abdomen, making him gasp in pain. He fell to the ground. Two bloodshot red eyes reflected back at him from under a fringe of black hair.
"Number Four?!" the assassin choked out. "What are you—"
"Gah!" It was too quick. A blade pierced his throat before he could finish his sentence.
"Shhhhh...."
The person wrapped in dark robes and bandages looked toward the alley's exit, toward where Lucid had just walked.
"This person..." the figure murmured, voice a low, gritty whisper.
"Is my target."
***
Lucid sat on a bench high on the academy's western terrace, catching the last of the sunset as it painted the kingdom of Vex in shades of gold and deep blue. From this vantage point, he could see it all—the gleaming citadel at the heart, the sprawling districts with their blue banners, the distant walls, and the spectral rails stitching the sky. He couldn't help but be taken aback.
"Vex is kinda beautiful," he murmured aloud.
"It is," Alice agreed softly within his mind.
A moment of quiet passed before she spoke again, her tone shifting to one of gentle caution. "Lucid, are you ready? Remember that we do not have to do this. There are other paths, slower but safer."
"No, we have to," Lucid replied, his voice firm. "It's the only time when the main forces of the Fenshore house will be distracted. That Awakened silver-haired heir, Miguel, that little shit Alaric, and their head of house will all be focused on the Epsilon Rift expedition. Their guard will be down at the estate. It's the best chance we'll get."
"If you say so," Alice conceded, her worry a faint hum in the background of his thoughts.
He looked down at the small parcel in his lap. On his way through the market, he had bought a few things. A new, sturdy pair of glasses for Mary, to replace her broken ones. A box of sweet pastries for Brian, the kind stuffed with too much cream. Some high-quality charcoal and sketching paper for Garfield. He smiled briefly at the items. This wasn't like him at all. He felt a small, strange sort of attraction towards the three of them. They weren't comrades in any grand sense, but their presence… it reminded him of what it was like to not be completely alone. It reminded him of *them*, from before.
He shook the thought away, a familiar, defensive motion.
"Lucid, I am hurt," Alice chimed in, her voice taking on a playful, mock-wounded tone. "You haven't gotten me anything."
"No," Lucid shot back, a dry smirk touching his lips. "What are we, a couple?"
"But we are certainly more than friends," she teased.
"Huh," he grunted, the sound almost a laugh.
They both shared a quiet moment of amusement, the tension easing.
"A gift, well," Lucid said, his tone turning more thoughtful. "I will be sure to get you a generous amount of pure fate essence from the Epsilon Rift. How about that?"
"Ah," Alice sighed inside his mind, the sound one of pure, delighted anticipation. "Now *that* is a gift worth waiting for."
As Lucid stood up and began walking away from the academy grounds, his fingers found the pendant Karmen had given him. The silver teardrop with its embedded red gem was cool against his skin. He could signal right now, go over the plan one more time, seek some last-minute reassurance or instruction. But he didn't want to bother the bard. Karmen, or whichever mask was active, had his own chaotic symphony to conduct.
A soft *rustle* came from the shadowed alley between two academic buildings.
"Who's there?" Lucid said, his voice low and hushed, his body going still.
Nothing. Just the evening wind playing with a discarded paper. He decided to walk down the path the path that led him home and prepare for the next day
Then another rustle, this one from behind a large, ornate bulletin board. He turned, his senses stretching out with the Chain of Heart's subtle perception, but he paid it no further mind. Probably just a stray cat or a nervous student. He continued walking, his hand dropping from the pendant.
Just across the pathway, leaning against the stone wall of the alchemy building as if she had been waiting for him, stood a woman. She had shockingly bright pink hair with sharp bangs, and her eyes, even in the fading light, glowed with a distinct, unsettling red. the senior administrator Anya . One of the few instructors who didn't seem to care about the injustices of this academy, only results, and whose lessons were as sharp as her gaze.
She pushed off the wall, her movements fluid and silent. "Such high perception for an unweakened second-year," she said, her voice carrying no warmth under her breath as she watched him leave.
Lucid continued to walk further down as she feasted her eyes on his back.
A faint, knowing smile touched her lips, but it didn't reach her red eyes. "Your arrogance will be the end of you, Lucid of House Valerius. Assuming you are who you say you are." She didn't wait for a response, turning to melt back into the deepening shadows of the campus. "The forest has eyes. The rift has more. Watch your step."
And then she was gone.