Date: April 16th, year 1286 Location: Sea surrounding the Crystal Rose island, Kingdom of Specta

  - “Haha, this is great!” Nyx shouts, smiling from ear to ear.

  She was standing on the bow of a relatively large galleon made of a strange white wood, with large purple sails. Her hair was wildly flying in the ocean breeze, and a few curious seagulls with blue tipped wings were flying next to her. They were sailing at breakneck speeds through the ocean, cutting through the water like so much air.

  - “Nyx get back, this is dangerous!” Julian yells.

  He was standing at the front of the deck, holding onto a water-filled barrel for stability.

  - “Let’er have her fun!” Adrian shouts. He was at the back of the ship, manning the helm. “She was already looking depressed when she had to leave the townsfolk after that big banquet they held to thank her yesterday!”

  - “I wanna do it too!” Beatrice adds as she tries to make her way to the bow and extends her arms towards Nyx. Her eyes were visible for once due to the wind, being a very pronounced shade of crimson.

  - “Here!” Nyx reaches and takes her hands, lifting her above her head.

  - “It’s not going to be pretty if you hit the water at these speeds…” Julian comments.

  - “We’ll be fine!” Nyx replies, and Beatrice nods along. “By the way, how are we going so fast? I don’t remember human ships being able to zoom like that!”

  - “The entire ship’s made of Ashen Wood!” Adrian replies before slightly coughing. “I’m getting too old for this stuff, I better think about retiring soon.”

  - “Ashen wood?”

  - “You can cast magic through it, and it amplifies it by a lot. I’ve done a little adventuring in my younger days, and I got pretty good at Aquatic magic so I use it like this…” One of the hands he has on the helm is covered in a veil of water, which is immediately absorbed by the wood. The ship immediately accelerates, practically jumping forward, and Nyx almost falls off with Beatrice.

  - “Whoa!”

  - “...And there you go! I’m one of the fastest ferries out there.” Adrian proudly puffs his chest. “By the way, you should listen to the little elf. I can go much faster than that, you know?”

  - “That’s true…” Nyx replies while looking up at Beatrice. “I wouldn’t want Beatrice to get hurt!”

  She bends back to put Beatrice back on the deck, and that’s when her foot slips.

  - “Ah.” Nyx blankly comments as she lets go of Beatrice and falls off the ship.

  - “NYX!” Beatrice screams, trying to grab her hand but missing by a few centimeters.

  Nyx violently hits the surface of the water, and bounces from it like a pebble a few times due to the speed at which she made contact. After the fifth ricochet, she pierces the surface, and finds herself in an endless expanse of deep blue. Fish were swimming not too far under her, and she could see a few sharks hunting them.

  Ow ow ow… I didn’t think falling off would hurt this much. What did the big civilizations call them again back then?... Right, the laws of physics. I forgot that the laws of physics apply to me too now. That aside though, I like being underwater, it’s pretty relaxing! Especially since Julian taught me how to hold my breath at a moment's notice. Drowning isn’t very relaxing…

  - “Nyx?...” A voice seemingly coming from the depths of the ocean calls out to her.

  - “Huh?” Nyx turns to the bottom of the ocean. She squints, and only sees the seafloor hundreds of meters below through the darkness. “Oh wait, that voice! Calypso, is that you?”

  Only a handful of bubbles come out of her mouth, and Nyx slowly realizes that water is now making it into her airways due to her trying to speak. She lowers her hand and an asteroid forms under her, then quickly ascends to the surface. She gasps for air as the asteroid dissipates into particles of light.

  - “The water is super salty…” She complains. “I understand why humans don’t drink it, it tastes really bad!”

  She’s interrupted in her reflection by a hard object hitting her skull. She’s disoriented for a few seconds, and when she looks around to see what hit her she notices the ship they were riding wasn’t too far away. Next to her was a red life belt floating on the water and attached to a rope that Julian was holding from the deck. Beatrice was standing next to him, frantically trying to throw a second life belt towards her.

  - “Oops, messed up the throw.” He comments. “Wouldn’t have happened if you listened to me though.”

  - “I don’t regret a thing!” Nyx replies as she grabs onto the life belt and Julian pulls her back to the ship.

  A few hours later, they could see land in the distance. More precisely, they could see a gigantic city on an island, far larger than anything Nyx had seen ever since she became a human. A giant rampart of what seemed to be a complex and abstract mix of marble and glass was surrounding the entire town, and the buildings were visible through the wall. They were tall, elegant and intricate, ranging from towers to standard houses and mansions the size of Nyx’s hometown. Some of the buildings were even partially made of that glass making up the wall surrounding the city, or at least were covered in it which made them glisten in the afternoon light like water during a sunset. The most striking feature was a glass dome in the center of the city, the size of a small mountain. The glass was a hazy white color, rendering it mostly opaque, and Nyx could see a myriad of circular stairways wrapping around the dome, with large groups of people making their way up them and suddenly disappearing in flashes of golden light.

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  - “So this is the capital! Solomon and his followers really outdid themselves this time!” Nyx exclaims.

  - “So pretty…” Beatrice whispers. “The director told me I would never get to see Crystal Rose, because the people there only adopt kids with strong magics.”

  - “Guess he was wrong!”

  - “Alright…” Julian takes a deep breath. “Relax, Julian. It’s just in and out.”

  - “What’s going on?” Nyx asks.

  - “Remember I told you I had a few things to take care of in the capital? I’ll do just that and leave as soon as I can.”

  - “Oh you’re leaving? But I like when you’re around! Even if you’re kind of a boring character most of the time.”

  - “That’s… uncalled for?” Julian shakes his head, attempting to regain his focus. “Anyways yeah, I won’t be sticking with you for much longer. I’m kind of worried about Beatrice though…” He turns to Beatrice.

  She was looking the other way with her arms crossed, deeply frowning.

  - “What’s going on?” He asks her.

  - “You’re a big meanie! I thought you were gonna stay with us, but you’re gonna leave just like the others!”

  - “The others?...” Julian lightly frowns. "I-"

  - “Bleh!” Beatrice sticks out her tongue, refusing to engage with him any further.

  - “...Alright I’ll… see what I can do. But don’t expect me to stay much longer, I’d be putting you at risk. You and Nyx.”

  Beatrice visibly twitches when she hears that, but tries to stay imperturbable for the rest of the trip. They eventually reach a large port, with dozens upon dozens of large and luxurious looking ships stationed there. A few of them were black and gray, with aggressive, silver colored metal plates decorating their hulls. Adrian looks at them, frowning in disdain.

  - “Some more Polemian officials, huh. I don’t know what the Grand Archmages are thinking, dealing with these warmongers…” He comments as he snaps his fingers, and a few tendrils of water fly around to deploy a rope ladder down the side of the ship.

  - “Right you are.” Julian adds.

  - “What are we talking about?” Nyx says as she approaches from the other side of the deck, scratching at her skin due to how dry it had become because of the seawater.

  - “Nothing, really. Just terrible political decisions from royalty, casually striking deals with the source of one of the nation’s foulest problems. I can only think of one or two good things that came out of that.”

  - “Oh. So business as usual for humans then!”

  - “...Yeah. Yeah I guess you’re right.” He turns to Adrian. “Thank you Adrian, for letting us board your ship free of charge.”

  - “Like I’d ever make you pay anything after yesterday! You guys flew to our rescue free o’ charge too, you know?” Adrian jokes. “Feel free to visit Moon Harbor again, I’ll give you free rides as long as these old bones can handle manning this ship alone!”

  Julian replies with a light smile and they shake hands. A few minutes later, Adrian’s ship was sailing in the distance, and Nyx was waving goodbye as it cruised towards the horizon. Nyx eventually turns to face the city. She could see a myriad of humano?d figures flying above it using all manners of spells or magical constructs like levitating orbs of glass, going about their business. Them, along with most of the people on the ground, were wearing classy, elaborate and/or ornate clothes, some even having accents of gold weaved into them. The white glass dome in the center of the city appeared even larger now that she was on the ground.

  - “Well time to!… uh…” She starts, the volume of her voice gradually lowering. “I’m not even sure!” She exclaims after a second. “I need to find Agnes and Thaddeus, they mentioned something about helping me control my magic!”

  - “You don’t even know what you came here to do?...” Julian asks.

  - “I kinda do, but I really just wanted to travel!” Nyx grins. “That’s a great opportunity to explore the capital while I’m looking for them though!”

  - “Let’s go explore!” Beatrice shouts as she takes hold of Nyx’s hand and starts running towards the city and away from the port. Julian sighs before following in their tracks, lightly jogging after them.

  - “I’ve actually never seen a city like this, was it built using magic?” Nyx asks as she looks at some of the glass-covered buildings.

  - “Mostly yeah. There’s a very long history behind Crystal Rose, but most people agree that the credit for laying down the bases of its architecture belongs to Lord Solomon and the Founder.” Julian replies.

  - “The Founder? Who’s that?”

  - “They’re-”

  Julian is interrupted by the sound of an explosion, coming from a few tens of meters on their right. When they turn, they see a tower crumbling as if it was suddenly unable to support its own weight, with people running away from the rubble as shards of iridescent glass and stone were raining on the area. In the middle of the chaos, a patch of darkness was devouring the light of the sunset. It was as if a piece of the night sky itself was etched into the air a few meters above the ground, with a myriad of shimmering white stars scattered across it. In its middle was the silhouette of a man, floating horizontally and face down. The darkness surrounding him quickly vanishes, and he slowly descends towards the ground. When his shoe touches the floor, the bricks under him crack as if they were hit with a hammer. Nyx could see him clearly now: it was a man with mostly black hair, featuring multiple strands of gray hair. He was wearing a classy white shirt along with black pants, complete with black formal shoes and a small brown leather suitcase he was holding by the handle. His irises were completely black, and dozens of white star-like lights were dancing inside them. They almost looked hollow, like gates directly connected to outer space. Finally, while at first his expression was eerily neutral, a wide grin is slowly carved onto his face, as if he had never been happier. A feminine voice suddenly resonates around the neighborhood, originating from nowhere in particular.

  - “Alert. Alert. A Class Three Night Touched has manifested in the southern section of the commercial district. Please evacuate immediately. I repeat, a Class Three-”

  - “Oh that’s bad.” Julian comments as he reaches forward to grab Nyx’s wrist. “We gotta get out of here.”

  He tries to pull Nyx away, but the latter doesn’t budge at all. She was staring straight at the man with the suitcase, squinting. Said man slowly turns towards them, and makes eye contact with her.

  - “Nyx?” Julian tries to pull again, but her brute strength remains too overwhelming. “Nyx!! Snap out of it!”

  - “You know what? I also got… stuff I need to take care of.” Nyx replies, her tone very removed from her usual merry one. She didn’t sound annoyed or pouty either, just something resembling calm. “Julian, can you take Beatrice to a safer place ? You’re fast, you can do that.”

  - “Are you-”

  - “Julian.” Nyx was still staring at the man with the suitcase, who was slowly raising his hand towards them. Nyx performs the same motion, and a small white star forms in her hand.

  - “...Don’t you die.” He says as he picks up Beatrice from the ground. The latter still holds onto Nyx’s hand, refusing to let go.

  - “I’m not leaving you behind!” She yells.

  - “I’ll be fine, Beatrice.” Nyx smiles at her. “Did you forget? I'm the goddess of everything, so I'm pretty much invincible!”

  - “...” Beatrice silently lets go of her hand, but does not seem reassured in the slightest.

  Julian immediately runs off, disappearing into the neighboring streets with Beatrice. The man with the suitcase projects a wave of force from his hand, powerful enough to grind the bricks on the ground to dust. Nyx quickly flings her hand upwards, and the attack is redirected towards the sky. A woman that was passing by on a flying carpet is knocked off course so violently that she almost falls out of the sky.

  - “Ah. My bad!” Nyx smiles at the woman, who flees as fast as she can.

  I’m glad Beatrice is safe ! And Julian too. But seriously, what’s with this amount of light ? I saw this human standing on a rooftop earlier, and he didn’t have nearly as much as he does right now. Even the humans that I… erm… accidentally turned crazy back then weren’t that dangerous. I’m going to have to deal with this myself, I don’t want people dying because of me after all !