Zachary had no difficulty finding the well.
After his encounter with the Guards, he had returned to the Cathedral to finalize his preparations before following the map's jagged directions. Now, he walked through the dark, skeletal streets of the ruins with an uncanny calm, whistling a catchy tune from the 80s that felt entirely out of place among the ancient rot.
He looked less like a survivor and more like a man taking a midnight stroll through a city that wasn't plagued by Nightmares. Ahead of him, his capable "interns" paved the road, drawing away any monsters that might have interrupted his stride, leaving him completely alone with his thoughts.
His extended isolation and the string of sleepless nights had begun to warp his sense of time. When Zachary felt the three-month mark of his solitude approaching, he had started spending more time near the Bright Castle, lurking in the shadows to catch signs of the advancing chronology. Despite the ripples he had already caused in the Forgotten Shore, the grand timeline remained set in stone.
The expedition to the Hollow Mountains had to be timed perfectly with the passing of the Builder Statue, and the Siege of the Crimson Spire was looming just beyond the next Solstice. Yet, some events remained outside his direct control—like Kai's inclusion in the cohort. In the original story, it had required Sunny releasing him from his hole and a subsequent invitation to the cohort's secret meeting.
'...Perhaps even if I hadn't stepped in, Cassie would have found a way to draw him in,' Zachary considered, his expression darkening.
Something that always kept Zachary on edge was that he remained ignorant of exactly how precise her visions were as a Sleeper, or how much she was able to plan ahead. So knowing that relying on unknowns was a shortcut to a shallow grave, Zachary had taken the matter into his own hands. He had stalked the night, waited for the Guards to slip up, and finally, the map was his.
Speaking of the Guards...
'I could have let them live,' the thought surfaced abruptly. He didn't push it away. His expression remained calm as he navigated a narrow, empty tunnel.
He shook his head. While the Guards had been terrified enough to hand over the map at the end, their survival would have been a ticking clock. Once they returned to the Castle, Tessai would have learned of the encounter. The Guards would have mobilized to hunt him, and in the escalating tension, the Hunters would have done the same.
With the expedition so close and the friction with Nephis's group at a breaking point, his sudden emergence would have collapsed the delicate balance of his plans. Zachary was acutely aware that his position in this conflict was unique; he had ties to every faction, yet he wasn't perceived as a protagonist in these conflicting currents. At most, he was seen as a valuable piece to be claimed. He was thankful for that. It allowed him to guide the narrative without dragging the spotlight—and the danger—directly onto himself.
If he excelled too much, too soon, his position would become a target.
'There was no real benefit in letting them live,' he thought, rationalizing the blood on his hands even as the nagging sense of "detachment" continued to plague him.
Sighing inwardly, he buried the doubt beneath his resolve. The road ahead was finally clear, his plan was already in motion. He needed absolute focus to reach the ending he desired. There was no room for hesitation, and even less for luck.
He could only rely on himself, and for now, himself was enough.
With those heavy thoughts trailing behind him like a shadow, he finally entered the courtyard signaled on the map. At its center, a lonely, weathered well greeted him in silence. Zachary paused, looking down at his gear. With a rhythmic shake of his head, he dispelled the Mantle of the Underworld, letting the dark stone vanish into sparks and leaving him in the more familiar martial form of the Witness' Testament.
'I just told myself not to draw too much attention. Walking around in an Ascended Memory is the fastest way to break that rule,' he thought with a dry chuckle.
In the Forgotten Shore, Memories of the Ascended rank were incredibly rare. As far as he knew, only some of the Shard Memories held that power. Suddenly appearing in a suit of onyx plate that could ignore an Awakened's strike would raise questions he wasn't ready to answer.
"Now, how to do this?" he muttered, approaching the well. An ornate iron grate covered the entrance completely, sealing the darkness within.
He rubbed his chin for a few seconds, habitually glancing at the non-existent watch on his left wrist before nodding to himself. "I think I'm a few hours late... Oh well. It's not like I have a busy social calendar."
With not much time to kill, Zachary hopped onto the iron grate, his feet dangling into the dark shaft as he leaned back on his hands. He exhaled a long, tired breath and looked up at the starless sky. He hadn't realized how much he missed the stars until they were gone. Back in the city of the Other World, light pollution had hidden most of them, but the sky had still felt vast. This sky felt like a claustrophobic dome, a heavy lid watching him every night.
Another breath escaped his lips—a weary, rhythmic sound followed by a quiet admission. "...I'm hungry."
Zachary had left something simmering back at the Cathedral, but the cut of meat he'd secured required hours of slow-cooking to reach its peak, so he had set out on an empty stomach. He had to admit, he'd grown fond of the local food. No matter how it was prepared, Nightmare Creature meat was remarkably flavorful; the marbled fat of a choice Awakened Beast almost rivaled a gourmet cut from the Other World. Yet, the chronic scarcity of spices and proper ingredients made it difficult to truly appreciate the profile.
"Once I get back, I'm eating a good, fricking burger," Zachary muttered, licking his lips. "Not the fast-food garbage. A real, homemade one."
He closed his eye, the image already manifesting in his Mind. "A toasted potato bun, brushed with butter. A thick patty with a classic eighty-twenty ratio of lean meat to fat. Cheese... at this point, I don't even care about the variety. Gouda, Manchego, even processed American cheese would do. Onion, crisp lettuce, a thick slice of tomato... pickles, too. And the condiments—ketchup, spicy mustard, maybe a drizzle of BBQ sauce."
A soft, wistful smile touched his lips. He was just about to take an imaginary bite of his mental masterpiece when a melodious voice drifted up from the darkness of the well.
"That sounds incredible. I'm not a fan of the pickles, personally, but could you please talk about food somewhere else? I haven't eaten in a long, long, long time."
Zachary raised an eyebrow.
"It's been three days," the voice continued, weary but polite. "I have no problem going without a meal, but please, have the decency not to describe a gourmet burger right in front of me."
The well fell silent. Zachary looked down at the pitch-black void beneath the iron grate, an amused smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, my. A talking well," he mused. "Well then, Magic Well, do tell—what exactly do you have against pickles?"
"Magic well? What are you talking abou—" There was a beat of stunned silence, followed by a sharp, ragged gasp that echoed up the stone shaft. "Wait. You're not one of the... you're not... Oh! Oh, gods!"
Zachary stared into the dark, and though he couldn't see a thing, he could perfectly imagine the silhouette of Kai beginning to spiral into a full-blown panic.
"Oh, gods! It's not human... heavens, I'm going to die. Those damn fools finally got me killed!" The voice escalated in dramatic flair, the terror vibrating through the stone. "It speaks... it mimics... oh, gods! I've only ever heard of one other creature on the Forgotten Shore that can mim—"
"Hey, hey. Chill out, Magic Well." Zachary leaned closer to the grate, his scoff echoing down. "First of all, what kind of Nightmare Creature spends its time fantasizing about the perfect burger? Be real man."
He paused, a playful glint in his crimson eye. "Actually, from where I'm sitting, a talking well sounds a lot more like a Nightmare Creature than I do. Don't you think?"
The well remained silent for a few seconds before a reluctant, melodic voice drifted up from the darkness. "Are you... are you really human?"
"I think, therefore I am," Zachary answered with a chuckle, leaning back against the cool stone of the well's rim. "Now, why would a group of Guards have a map leading straight to a Magic Well?"
In all honesty, he could have been upfront with Kai from the beginning, but where was the fun in that? These early interactions were some of the most entertaining parts of the original novel, and Zachary desperately needed something to relax his conflicted mind after the grim business with Jeff.
After a few heartbeats, the well spoke again, sounding breathless and surprised. "The Guards? Are they... are they dead?"
Zachary raised an eyebrow, considering a joke, but decided against it. The boy down there had enough on his plate. "Yep."
The voice beamed with a sudden, involuntary surge of emotion. "Oh! That's great! No—actually, that's pretty bad. Even though they imprisoned me here, I didn't want anything bad to happen to them." A pained, sincere sigh climbed the shaft. "Such a shame..."
The silence stretched as Zachary waited for the prisoner to continue. Finally, the voice returned, hesitant but undeniably beautiful. "Considering they won't be coming back... can you maybe get me out of here? If you help me escape, I'll make it worth your while!"
Zachary let out an honest laugh. "Now, why would I free a Magic Well? For all I know, those Guards were doing some shady business coming to this well in the middle of the night. If you were in my shoes, would you free yourself?"
Zachary was being careful with his speech, choosing vague, playful wording to bypass Kai's Flaw. From the confused silence below, it was clearly working.
"Oh! No, no, no," the well answered hurriedly. "I'm not a Magic Well. I'm human... I'm human, too!"
"Isn't that exactly what an evil Magic Well would say?" Zachary scoffed. "I have no real way of knowing if you're telling the truth, so you'll have to forgive me if I remain skeptical of your humanity, Mr. Well."
A groan echoed up the stone—a sound that, despite being distorted by the well's acoustics, still carried a rhythmic, musical quality. "How... how can I prove to you that I'm human?"
Zachary stroked his chin, his crimson eye glinting with amusement. "Well, you could start by telling me exactly what you have against pickles."
"Oh, that." The well gave an awkward, sheepish chuckle. "I just don't like the taste. They're too acidic. And they're soggy and crunchy at the same time... it's a texture I can't stand."
Zachary nodded solemnly. "Fair enough. So, aside from the pickles, would you say the burger I described was perfect?"
There was a long pause as the prisoner actually gave the question serious thought. "Actually... I'd leave the onions off, too. I like them, personally, but my manager used to say the fans disliked the smell."
"Aren't you a picky well?" Zachary mocked. "If you keep this up, you won't be eating for a long time, Magic Well."
"I'm not a Magic Well, please believe me!" The Magic Well answered frantically. "What else do I need to say for you to believe me?"
While Zachary was tempted to keep the bit going for a few more minutes, he decided it would be cruel to push poor Kai any further. He'd reached his limit. He chuckled softly and stood up.
"Hey, hey. Calm down, man. I believe you."
"You do?" Kai's voice was small, filled with a sudden, fragile hope.
"I do." Zachary stepped onto the iron grate, his boots clinking against the metal. "You said you'd make it worth my while, right? Well, I'm going to hold you to that. I actually need help with something. Are you in?"
"Yes! Yes! I have some soul shards, or I can help you with anything... as long as it isn't something bad."
"I don't really need your shards. We'll talk about the 'help' once you're topside," Zachary said evasively. "I'm going to move the grate. Do you need a rope, or would you rather climb, float, or fly?"
A few seconds of silence followed before Kai answered reluctantly. "...I'll fly."
"Suit yourself, then," Zachary said. He stepped back and gave a silent mental command. Pepe Silvia surged forward, his chitinous pincers sparking against the iron as he began to drag the heavy grate aside. The "intern" hummed with a grumpy internal vibration, but the metal groaned and finally yielded.
When the well was finally uncovered, Zachary waited. Five seconds passed. ten. Nothing emerged from the darkness. Zachary let out a sharp, annoyed sigh.
"Are you shy? Or did you decide you liked the décor down there? Come out."
"...You see, I just thought of something," Kai's voice drifted up, colored by a wary, nervous chuckle. "That grate is incredibly heavy. It took all six of my captors to heave it into place, and they were all... well, very big, very strong men. So..."
Before Kai could finish his logic, Zachary turned to Pepe Silvia. With a sharp jerk of his thumb toward the well, he gave a crisp nod. The intern complained inwardly—a grumble of manual labor—but a second later, the grate began to slide back over the opening.
"...So I was wondering if you could expl—Wait! Wait! What are you doing?!" Kai's voice broke into a frantic exclamation.
"Oh, sorry. I stopped listening halfway through," Zachary said, his tone bright and helpful as the metal continued to seal the shaft. "I might have figured you'd grown attached to the place. I was just doing you a favor, keeping you safe and tucked in. Ain't I a nice person?"
Silence fell over the well. Zachary could practically feel the conflict brewing in the idol's head. With a quiet laugh, he decided to give the final push.
"Look, pal. I've enjoyed the bit, but time waits for no one and I have places to be," he said, signaling Pepe to halt. "So, either you come out this instant, or you can stay there and wait for the next Fool to stumble by. I find the answer rather obvious, don't you?"
A pained, defeated sigh climbed from the depths. "Okay, okay. I'll trust you. Just... promise you're not a demon? And that you're not planning to eat me?"
"Jesus Christ! Just get up here already!"
A soft, sudden breeze billowed from the mouth of the well. Zachary unsummoned his intern just as a silhouette soared into the moonlight. Kai emerged in a radiant display of grace, clutching a small paper lantern that bathed the courtyard in a soft, golden glow.
Zachary squinted, shielding his eye with his palm as he studied the dashing archer through the gaps in his fingers. A complicated expression crossed his face. He'd had this thought before—usually when staring at a hauntingly beautiful vista in the Dream Realm—but seeing Kai in the flesh confirmed it: the novel's descriptions didn't do the man justice.
"Fuck," Zachary muttered with a soft sigh, shaking his head. "You really are handsome."
Kai drifted downward, his Memory illuminating the space between them as he landed a few paces away. Just as Zachary studied him, Kai returned the favor, his gaze searching and intense.
"Oh, thank the gods," Kai breathed, his shoulders visibly relaxing. "You really are human."
As his eye adjusted to the lantern light, Zachary lowered his hand, leaving his scarred visage uncovered. He expected a flinch, or perhaps the professional, guarded mask Madi had wore. Instead, Kai didn't seem to care about the ruin of his face at all.
"I told you I was," Zachary said with a soft chuckle. "I try not to lie, after all."
Kai remained silent, his eyes scanning Zachary from every possible angle. It was a level of scrutiny that would have made anyone nervous; even Sunny hadn't elicited this kind of reaction from the archer. Before Zachary could complain about the staring contest, Kai finally spoke.
"Have we met before?"
The genuine interest in his voice caught Zachary off guard. "I don't think so..."
"Hmmm..." Kai mused, scratching his chin as he focused on the unscarred side of Zachary's face. "Aren't we... coworkers?"
Zachary finally understood the confusion and relaxed, answering with a scoff. "Why? Have you ever worked a shift at a convenience store?"
Kai sighed in defeat. "No, I haven't had the opportunity yet—Oh, right! Where are my manners? What's your name?"
Zachary looked at Kai for a few seconds seriously before deciding to try something. A sudden, roguish spark flickered in his crimson eye. He adopted a somber, tragic expression and answered in a hollow voice.
"I can no longer remember my name..."
Kai's eyes widened in genuine shock, but before he could offer sympathy, Zachary let out a bright laugh. "I'm joking. The name's Zachary. Nice to meet you, man."
The archer's face twisted into a masterpiece of confusion—relief, shock, and doubt all fighting for dominance. Seeing that expression, Zachary felt a weight lift from his heart.
He knew his Penance allowed him to speak as both himself and the Original One, sharing truths that one knew but the other hadn't experienced. Now, he had confirmation that this unique ontological quirk could successfully scramble Kai's Flaw.
'I'll have to be careful how much I share,' Zachary thought, 'but this is a good card to play.'
Kai regained his composure and coughed awkwardly into his fist. "...Hmmm. I think I have to inform you of something," he said reluctantly.
"It's about my Flaw. I can actually tell when someone is lying to me. So, uh... when you said you don't remember your name, I knew it was the truth. But your name being Zachary is also the truth. How can two conflicting statements both be true?"
Zachary laughed at the idol's bewildered face before launching into a rehearsed, pseudo-intellectual defense. "Oh, well. I said I don't remember it because I know with absolute certainty that I currently am Zachary. Therefore, the knowledge doesn't come from the fallible act of memory, but from a state of present, transcendental awareness..."
He continued rambling about the metaphysical relationship between semantics and identity, laughing inwardly. He didn't know exactly how the Flaw functioned mechanically, but he knew some people had bypassed it in the novel. He was aiming to bury the truth under a mountain of honest but confusing wordplay.
It worked. Kai looked like he wanted to lay down and take a nap.
"...So, in the end, it was just a bit of linguistic fun. Haha," Zachary concluded, scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.
"Oh. I see. Ha... ha... ha," Kai offered a defeated laugh, clearly giving up on trying to parse Zachary's ontological wordplay. Then, a spark of recognition lit up his face. "Wait... are you that Zachary? I think I've heard your name mentioned by the Theater Troupe."
Finally putting a face to the name, Kai studied him again, his gaze lingering on the jagged ruin of Zachary's face and the hollow darkness of his missing eye. "What... what happened to you?"
"Oh, really? How's Erio doing?" Zachary asked dismissively, before gesturing to his own scars with a casual shrug. "And as for this? Spend three months alone in these ruins and you might end up looking as handsome as me."
Kai studied the damage for another second before letting out a nervous, polite laugh. "While I have to say the scars certainly enhance the 'bad boy' vibe, I think I'll have to decline the offer. I'm not proud of it, but half my fans only follow me for my looks."
"What are you, a host club worker?" Zachary scoffed, turning toward the courtyard exit. "Come on. It's going to be dawn soon and we have places to be."
"Host worker?!" Kai sounded genuinely insulted, but he hurried to catch up. "Wait! You still haven't told me what I have to do in exchange for my freedom."
Zachary glanced back at the archer, his eyes falling on the paper lantern still glowing in Kai's hand. He considered advising the man to unsummon the light to avoid attracting unwanted attention, but then he looked ahead. The Stone Saint was already gliding through the shadows a dozen yards in front of them, her shield smeared with blasphemous ichor as she methodically attracted the monsters attention.
He turned back to the path. "It's quite simple, actually. If you've heard of me, you know my standing at the Castle is... complicated." He felt Kai's nod behind him. "Well, I need to speak with certain people inside, but I can't exactly walk through the front gate without starting a riot. You're going to be my middleman. Is that alright with you?"
Kai nodded, falling into step beside him. "Are you sure that's all? It feels like very little in exchange for my life."
"Doesn't that just make me an altruistic person?" Zachary countered with a smirk. "Take it as a sign of my benevolence."
Kai studied him for a few seconds, a soft, beautiful smile touching his lips as the first grey light of dawn began to creep over the horizon. As the sun's rays finally touched the tip of the Crimson Spire, Kai dismissed his lantern. Zachary, seeing the shift in light, habitually checked the invisible watch on his wrist.
'We're a little behind schedule,' he thought, patting the leather pouch at his waist. 'But I have everything. No need to go back to the Cathedral.'
He looked over at Kai again. No matter how many times he saw it, the sheer architectural perfection of the man's face was jarring. Noticing Kai's lips were dry and parted, Zachary wordlessly offered the Endless Spring. The idol took it with a grateful, dazzling smile.
They continued their walk undisturbed, shielded by the silent distraction of the Stone Saint. To any observer, they would have looked like two friends taking a peaceful morning stroll through a haunted necropolis. Finally finding the calm to speak, Kai turned to him.
"Hey, Zach. You arrived during the last Solstice, right?"
Zachary chuckled, already sensing where this was going. "That's correct."
Kai's smile widened. "What... what's the top music video on the charts back home right now?"
Despite expecting the question, Zachary couldn't help but laugh at the sheer irony. "Oh, man. You couldn't have picked a worse person to ask."
Kai's expression faltered, sensing the truth behind the statement. Zachary continued with a chuckle. "I can safely assure you that I haven't heard a single piece of music from the last century. I'm not up to date on the drama, the charts, or anything people consider 'basic knowledge' in that department."
Zachary realized, with a sudden inward pang, that even Sunny could claim to be more of a "local" than him. Sunny at least knew about the Great Clans and the dynamics of the world. Without his knowledge of the novel, Zachary would be utterly lost. He searched the Original One's memories for any scrap of pop culture, but found only a hollow, grey void.
The realization left a bitter taste in his mouth. The Original One hadn't just been a miserable kid; he had been a shell. His childhood had been too consumed by detachment to even form a personality, and the deaths of Aaron and Sophia had robbed him of the chance to ever start.
A shell that had been cracked open by an Usurper from another world.
"You... you really haven't heard of anything?" Kai asked, his voice incredulous. Even knowing it was the truth, he felt compelled to check. "Nothing at all? Not even... ahem, not even about Nightingale?"
"The group?" Zachary asked. Kai's face brightened so intensely it rivaled the rising sun. "I mean, I've heard of them. But I haven't heard them. You understand the difference?"
Kai nodded with a sheepish grin, which promptly shattered at Zachary's next words.
"Besides, what's the deal with that name anyway?" Zachary asked with a mocking scoff. "Gale and Night? Come on. Corny as hell, I'm telling you."
"...What?" Kai squeaked.
"I'm serious, man," Zachary continued, leaning into the bit while laughing internally. "In the past, artists put effort into their names. Eddie Van Halen. Freddie Mercury. Jon Bon Jovi. Ronnie James Dio. Axl Rose—"
"Axl Rose?" Kai interrupted, frowning. "'Axel' or 'Axl'? Like, A-X-L?"
Zachary coughed awkwardly into his fist. "The latter."
Kai raised an eyebrow. Zachary gave another quick cough and added, "Okay, it's a little corny, I'll give you that. But his real name was William, so give the guy a break."
The archer studied him for a long moment before letting out a defeated, honest laugh. "You might be right... though I don't recognize a single one of those names."
Zachary sighed with a mock-tragedy. "I don't blame you. But look at that—it turns out we have a thing or two in common after all, don't you think?"
"Perhaps..." Kai said with a chuckle, the sound light and honest.
As they walked, the ruins began to give way to the familiar, stark white road leading toward the Bright Castle. The sun was already high over the Spire, bathing the world in a deceptive, golden warmth. Zachary looked on with a strange, swelling sense of pride as he surveyed the Outer Settlement. In just two months, the place had undergone a radical transformation.
As they moved through the streets, a group of Sleepers Zachary didn't recognize greeted Kai with wide, genuine smiles. "Hey, Night! Glad to see you, man. Where have you been lately?"
Kai smiled, scratching the back of his neck in that sheepish way of his. "Ah, you know. Flying around. What about you, pal?"
As the group moved on, the archer turned to Zachary, his expression serious as he gauged the scarred man's reaction. Zachary only snorted, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the retreating Sleepers.
"Ha! They're calling you 'Night,' man. Hilarious."
Faced with that blunt, truthful answer, Kai shook his head in defeat. He let out a long sigh. "So... who exactly do you want me to meet in the Castle?"
Zachary stroked his chin. He had a lot of threads to tie up today—final preparations for his own hidden agenda and a few pieces to move for the future. Once they left the Dark City for the Hollow Mountains, the pace would become a sprint. Today was his last chance to set the stage.
"Do you know Harper?" Zachary asked.
"Who?"
"The scrawny-looking kid at the reception desk," Zachary said, kicking a loose pebble.
"Oh, yeah! I know him," Kai said, his smile returning. "I think we've spoken a few times."
Zachary nodded, relieved the kid had been playing his part well. "Good. I'm a friend of his. Find him, tell him I'm back, and tell him I have something for him. Got it?" He glanced around the bustling settlement before adding in a lower, stranger tone, "I'll be... I'll be around here."
"Fine by me. See you in a bit." With a wave, Kai began the long climb up the white steps toward the Castle.
Watching the archer's back, Zachary turned his attention to the Outer Settlement once more. The changes weren't just structural. It wasn't just the better-tended huts or the cleaner streets. The very air felt different. There was a collective sense of unity that his enhanced perception picked up like a scent—the Settlement had finally coalesced under Nephis's banner.
"Purpose..." Zachary muttered, drifting toward the periphery of the town.
Even the most distant huts were now built of sturdier materials. With a mirthless laugh, Zachary found the spot where he used to stand, looking down at the Dark City. A large boulder now sat there, weathered and grey. He walked over, wiped the dust from its surface, and sat down with a tired, heavy sigh.
'Now... how do I make myself known?' He rested his chin on his fist.
He had arrived a few hours later than the original timeline. By now, Nephis should have finished her rounds. He couldn't bank on a "fateful encounter" like Sunny had. He couldn't exactly just waltz into the stone lodge and greet everyone with a wave. And he still needed to bring Kai into the fold.
'Wait a minute...' A sudden thought struck him as he hovered on the edge of the narrative. 'How am I so sure I'll even be invited to the expedition?'
The answer felt obvious—they needed his senses to pave the way through the Underworld—but to get there, they had to cross the Dark Sea. Even now, the mere memory of those profane gazes from the deep was enough to make his skin crawl and his heart hammer against his ribs. It was humbling...
No matter how much strength he had gained in the ruins, he was still a blasphemous, tiny existence to the true rulers of the Forgotten Shore.
Zachary rubbed his arm, trying to shake the chill of the abyss. A sigh escaped him. Nephis knew about his fear; after all she had been the one to jump into the black water that night. 'Would she still ask? Does she have a plan... or is she just trusting my good natured character?'
He chuckled, leaning back against the rock. The questions would be answered soon enough. He watched the grey dome above for a few minutes before closing his eyes, letting a cool breeze caress his cheek.
It was a good day.
The climate of the Shore was usually a humid nightmare and it honestly bothered Zachary how sweaty he sometimes get on a bad day. The day continued to pass as he basked under the sunlight, he wasn't bothered by the wait; he knew Harper was carefully monitored and they would need time to slip away.
Having enjoyed himself for a bit Zachary decided it had been enough, he needed to make his presence known some way or another. He was about to stand up, but then, the soft crunch of gravel reached his ears.
His senses flared, recognizing a familiar, steady presence behind him.
An honest chuckle escaped his lips as he turned over his right shoulder. "...I guess you can always rely on seers to handle the scheduling, don't you think?"
Nephis was standing there, her expression as aloof and porcelain as ever. Her grey eyes studied the right side of his face—the side that still looked human—as she spoke with her usual, calm weight.
"It is nice to see you, Zach."
Shaking his head, Zachary turned fully on the rock, finally letting his marred, scarred visage fall under the full light of the sun.
"Yeah. Nice to see you, too, Neph."
Changing Star looked at him. Her beautiful, stoic mask held firm... but her grey eyes trembled.