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[Ergh…] Luna woke up feeling extremely dizzy. The past, however long it was before she collapsed, was slowly coming back to her, but the experience itself was foggy.

In a way she felt refreshed; warm memories of her family had been constantly filling her mind.

Luna knew she had a lot of catching up to do on what transpired. It wasn’t easy for only one of the trio to pass out; it was normally an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Previously the closest they normally got–when one person could be in the body without their form suddenly changing–the other two could rest in the Soul Space. But that wasn’t being unconscious; it only allowed them to not feel the body’s tiredness and other physical afflictions, it was just a method of relaxing and not wanting to move.

Hoping the consequences didn’t leave Syrus and Eva in a precarious situation; her mind finally began to fade back into reality.

Instantly she connected to the body and saw a burnt pile of ash and a mound of freshly smoothed-out dirt, indicating that digging had occurred. Fire burned across the ground as logs and leaves burned, leaving the whole area unrecognisable and burnt.

[LUNA!] Eva cried, thankful that Luna had finally woken up.

[...How… long was I out…] (Luna)

The sky was black.

At this moment it would be either closer to midnight or morning. Luna could look up to the sky to estimate the time, but she was too afraid to do that.

She understood what happened was her fault, but she was unable to feel guilty about it. And knowing that also sickened her, she might’ve fucked everything for Eva and Syrus, but her soul didn’t have a sliver of guilt for her needless murder.

Syrus answered, [Nearly morning.]

[I see…] (Luna)

Luna saw all the work Syrus did to cover up the scene. The additional burning was to remove the traces that the soil that had been moved.

[Covering for my mistakes… I’m sor–] (Luna)

[Don’t blame yourself… you… couldn’t control it…] Eva was quick to interrupt. [I felt it… that anger wasn’t natural… it was literally consuming… no emotions can be given life to that point.]

[Please… don’t blame yourself… there was no good way out…] (Eva)

[...Syrus…?] Said Luna, looking for another repose, looking for someone to criticise her.

[Eva is correct. There was no way we were getting out this mess cleanly, so enjoy the fact you got to kill someone you despise.] (Syrus)

Luna had been angry, but no matter what she did, she wasn’t able to let it fade before this incident occurred.

Eva’s reasoning might have sounded nice, might’ve been a way to shift the blame off Luna, but Luna didn’t see it that way. It was still her wrath that caused this mess.

It was impossible to deny the years of hatred that had built up inside her for the Aurora Church. She spent her whole first life in the place, that tortured her for what she was worth, betrayed her, then came back to steal from her again. That last part hurt her more than any of their previous actions did, because before she had nothing.

There was a lot of emotion swirling in the three of them, but Luna could feel a strong warmth and relief from Eva and Syrus… there was also a massive deal of worry, and concernedly, it mostly wasn’t directed at her.

[Is Cobalt safe?] (Luna)

[Yeah… he is currently eating a deer.] Syrus pointed to the wolf, who sat by a small river of water left behind eating. It stayed away from Anlesa while she did her thing.

[He… is a very smart dog…] (Eva)

If that wasn’t the problem, then something far worse must’ve happened.

[...What happened when I was out..?] (Luna)

[We… learned something… not good…] (Eva)

Syrus clarified. [They had small trading books on their persons. Their contents spell trouble.]

[Wouldn’t the books be coded?] Luna asked. Anything important would’ve been coded. She did know a version of the cypher but didn’t know if that knowledge would be useful. It had been over ten years, maybe it changed, there could also be a more secretive version.

[Yeah, but we cracked it.] (Syrus)

Luna’s concerns were unneeded, as Syrus and Eva managed to solve it and gain access to the information inside.

[Syrus understood how to translate the symbols.] (Eva)

[Eva was the one to actually solve it once we found part of the key hidden in a separate book.] (Syrus)

[It was mostly Syrus…] (Eva)

Syrus scoffed, [All I did was basically the equivalent of explaining how a crossword worked.]

The lack of immediate answer gave and instead going back and forth frightened Luna. [What… is going to happen?]

[The church is going to launch an attack on Arisea Station.] (Syrus)

[But doing that would expo–] (Luna)

[No it won’t be their human forces, remember what that demon said and what you pointed out about the annoying ones?] (Syrus)

[They are going to send a swarm of mutated animals towards the city…] The thought of that was awful. Depending on the amount that reached the city, the city could still survive and maybe that was the plan, but so many innocent people would die.

[It would be good if it was just that.] Syrus sighed. [But they are bringing out all the stocks, looks like the bandits have been paid off to cause trouble during or after the conflict, hard to tell with what was written when.]

[Mutated creatures and bandits… What else?] (Luna)

[We… don’t know…] (Eva)

[Even after translating, the contents was still vague about what was actually coming. We were able to decipher bandits based on the fact it mentioned transactions with those in the mountains. It mentioned that Force B was coming from the north-west, so Demon Territory, and there was uncertainty about the amount of numbers, and based on what we knew, we guessed that meant mutated monsters. However, the further issue stemmed from the number of Forces they have labelled, Force A, B, C and D. Now, Force A, C, and D, could all be bandits but that is something we can’t be sure of.] (Syrus)

[Does it mention the direction or location of the other groups?] (Luna)

[No, only Force B. Force A being bandits is just a conjecture based on mentioning the mountains, it does give some landmarks for what I can assume in bandits groups that agreed, but there is nothing about C or D in the two books.] (Syrus)

[Is it possible to inform the city..?] Luna asked, not that she even knew the best way to go about that.

[Yes, the issue will then fall if they believe the information found in a book. Of course there are no signifiers in the books about who they belong to.] (Syrus)

[Bringing the bodies along is a no-go, huh?] (Luna)

[That could get us into real trouble. It is safer for us to drop off the book without stirring up the pot.] Said Syrus. [There also could be people waiting, so instead we are going to take a long way back to the city and enter during peak time.]

[I see…] (Luna)

It was a lot of information Luna had to deal with all at once. Along with these new revelations, there was also all the trouble they now had to face about killing Morrison and her guards… even if people didn’t immediately know… if something went wrong, they could be found out. Then it could spiral out of control for them.

[...Then what?] Luna asked.

Syrus had a simple answer as she had a long time to think about it.

“They have made a move against us, so now they shall face the consequences of their actions. So, first, it is time to clean up shop.”