The lodge had changed since Zachary last stood within its walls.
In truth, he hadn't spent much time here. Between hunts, the fight against the Devil, the subsequent discovery of [The Fool] true potential, and his voluntary exile for training, he had been a ghost in his own story. Then came the fallout with the Settlement after the Spire Messenger's attack—his so-called defiance against Nephis that had effectively scrubbed his name from their roster.
And yet, as he stepped inside, he couldn't help but feel a genuine jolt of surprise. This was ground zero for the transformation he'd seen in the streets.
Actually, 'surprised' wasn't the right word. This was the logical conclusion of Nephis's leadership. She had created a cohesive "We," a banner for the excluded to huddle under, but she hadn't stopped at mere sanctuary. She had introduced the one element intrinsic to human nature that the Forgotten Shore tried so hard to kill.
Progress.
It wasn't just Nephis's brilliance; progress was a human default. As Arnold Toynbee argued in A Study of History, civilizations advance through the "Challenge and Response" dynamic. Crises and desperation demand innovation and improvement. And in the Forgotten Shore, challenges weren't just common—they were the air everyone breathed.
"Hey, Zach..." Kai said, trailing behind him and pulling him out of his historical reverie. "You said you wanted to know if you were being lied to, right? But from what I saw out there, you and Lady Nephis seemed rather close. Why would she lie to you?"
'She probably wouldn't,' Zachary thought.
His claim about wanting a human lie detector was a half-truth; his real goal was to keep the script of the Main Quest aligned with the knowledge in his Mind. But since he couldn't explain that he was a transmigrator keeping track of the narrative, he just offered an amused smile. "Well, let's just say we parted ways on... complicated terms."
Kai's eyes lit up with recognition. He nodded solemnly. "Oh. I think I heard some rumors about that inside the Castle. So they were true after all..."
Zachary stopped in his tracks, a strange frown tugging at his scarred brow. 'Rumors? Again?' First Lester, now Kai. He began to wonder exactly what kind of tall tales Harper had been weaving in his absence.
"Hey, man," Zachary said, turning to Kai with a serious expression. "What rumors—"
"Welcome! Can I help you with someth—Zachary?!" A young woman interrupted them, her face lighting up with a pleasant surprise that curdled into a flash of fear the moment she processed his marred face.
"Hello there. How've you been?" Zachary recognized her, but he didn't have time to satisfy his curiosity about the gossip. "Nephis is expecting me."
"Ne—who?" the girl asked, blinking as she tried to regain her professional composure.
"Oh, come on!" Zachary feigned annoyance. "You know pretty well which Nephis I'm talking about."
Realization flooded her face. "Oh! N-Neph... Nephis, yes! Lady Changing Star!" She turned hurriedly toward the stairs. "Follow me, please. I'll guide you."
They followed her through the renovated halls. Zachary studied the structure with interest, his mind trying to pivot back to historical theory, but he kept getting distracted by the mental image of Harper. The kid must have invented something spectacular considering the Hunters had sent a search party after him almost inmediatly. Zachary had told Harper to say whatever he liked, thinking he was beyond the reach of rumors—but if even the Night knew the gossip, then everyone else probably did too.
'I'll have to deal with that nonsense later,' he thought, shaking his head as they reached the heavy doors of the central hall. 'Right now, I have a schedule to keep.'
Without knocking, Zachary pushed the door open.
Inside, the cohort was gathered exactly as the narrative demanded. Nephis, Cassie, Effie, and Caster were all there—a tableau of the Shore's most dangerous players. But as they raised their eyes to the door, the casual atmosphere shattered.
Effie was the first to look at him. As her eyes reached his face, she shifted almost imperceptibly in her seat, lowering her feet from the table in a rare show of alertness. Noticing her reaction and surprised by it, Caster looked up from the map at the end of the table. When he finally saw Zachary's marred visage, a disgusted scowl flickered across his handsome features for a fraction of a second before he recoiled into professional calmness. And yet, a faint tension remained in his shoulders as he continued to study his former colleague.
Nephis and Cassie were the only ones who showed no outward reaction—the former because she had already seen the damage, and the latter because she couldn't see at all. But even then, Zachary perceived through Cinder Eyes the inner conflict they were experiencing: Cassie straightened her back against the chair, and Nephis's fingers played a restless rhythm against the tabletop.
Zachary could only sigh inwardly in sad acceptance. He knew what they were seeing.
He knew he had been someone strange from the very beginning. It was a different type of strangeness, rooted in the way he interacted with the world. Only a few would catch on, and most would attribute it to his easygoing behavior. The truth was that in this world he had transmigrated to, the Nightmare Spell had already become a law—the only god that dictated life and demanded death.
The First Generation came from an already ruined world and were quick to adapt. The Second Generation was born into it, ready to face a changed reality. And the Third Generation, the current one, was already fully synchronized, inheriting the mind and spirit required to endure it.
Zachary knew nothing of that. His only knowledge came from a novel. Sure, he had traversed this world's hurdles extremely well and succeeded through daunting challenges with a quickly adaptable mindset, but there was no denying that his standing felt 'off' to the extremely sensitive few.
That was finally changing.
He was still the foolish philosophy student who cracked jokes at the worst of times. His light smile and calm demeanor remained, even if they were now plastered onto a ruined face, and the friendliness he was known for still lived in his heart despite his accepted detachment. But there was no doubt that his stay in the Dark City had changed something deep inside him.
The savage glow of his lonely eye and the phantom aroma of blood clinging to his skin were testaments to that.
It wasn't that he had suddenly turned into some kind of maniacal madman who talked to shadows, but after surviving more than one life-and-death struggle, his nature was beginning to shift. It had taken time, but the Nightmarish world was finally recognizing him as one of its own. Zachary was still the naive Fool trying to change the story with his incomprehensible feelings, but now he was also a fighter birthed in battle and bathed in blood.
The Sleepers in front of him—the strongest of their Rank—felt that shift. He had returned as someone different from the Zachary they knew.
Effie was the first to break the silence.
"Mr. Inconvenient, how nice to see you," she said. Her voice was easygoing as always, but it lacked that certain spark that usually characterized the huntress. "How... how have you been?"
Zachary watched her for a second before walking to the table with a weary sigh. "Shitty, but who's gonna listen?"
He grabbed the closest chair and sat down tiredly. "Man, I tell you, those monsters from the Dark City are really hostile toward new neighbors. They act just like a white neighborhood when a Mexican moves in next door." He ended with a scoff.
Seeing that he still had the spirit to crack jokes despite his new looks, Effie finally relaxed. Her smile widened, and she leaned in his direction. "Your joke is kinda outdated, Mr. Inconvenient. Racism was one of the first things the Government abolished a few years ago."
Zachary could only scoff at the truth of her words. Beyond that, America had been lost long ago; there were likely no Mexicans left in this world at all.
Seeing their exchange, Caster finally relaxed at the end of the table, though he didn't retract his professional distance. Uncaring of the political tension, Effie's gaze traveled over his face.
"How did you even survived in the Dark City alone with that Attribute of yours?!" She said without containing her bewilderment, she continued studying his face before adding. "Look at you, you lost an ear!"
Zachary raised an eyebrow at the straightforwardness, answering with a small smile. "Oh yes, can't remember where I placed it."
Her grin widened. "You lost an eye, too."
"I don't remember the last place I saw it."
Effie barked a laugh at the answer while Caster shook his head in disappointment. Nephis studied the exchange with an amused glow in her grey eyes, while Kai frowned at the grim truth behind the punchlines. The only one who didn't react well was Cassie.
The blind seer had been the only one from the cohort to meet him when he visited the Castle—only a few days after his fight against the Stone Saints, when he had been at his absolute worst. While she knew he had been injured, she hadn't been able to see the sheer gravity of the ruin.
After flinching at every one of Effie's blunt observations, Cassie finally spoke, her voice reluctant. "I'm glad to find you... well, Zach."
Zachary watched her carefully. He didn't need Kai to tell him her words were sincere; he could recognize the genuine relief in them. Yet, his enhanced senses also caught the faint, jagged edge of grief hiding behind her tone. What confused him, however, was the nature of that relief. It didn't feel like she was glad to find him in good health—it felt like she was glad to find him at all.
His mind drifted back to the parting words they had exchanged after his visit to the Castle, and her strange question about his return. Back then, Zachary had dismissed them as simple formalities, but seeing her now, he realized there was more to the subtext.
'At this point in the story, Cassie must have already received most of her visions regarding the Forgotten Shore,' he mused. 'She knows I'll accompany them on the journey. Hell, she knows I'll be atop the Spire. So why would she have questioned my return in the first place? Why would she be relieved I'm here if she already saw my presence in the future?'
A splitting headache began to throb behind his eyes with every rising thought—a common occurrence lately. During his planning sessions in the darkness of the Cathedral, Zachary had to maintain a constant, grueling watch over his own psyche. Fate was a force beyond the dimensionality of his mind, a power that reigned over the laws of the world with absolute prescience. He was trying to subvert it with a dimensionally limited mentality.
It was as if a cube were trying to contain a tesseract within its three dimensions; something would inevitably escape.
The only answer Zachary had found was that he possessed something "above" dimensions as well: knowledge of a novel from a world beyond this fated reality. It was a blueprint of a higher dimension that might bridge the gap. With [The Fool] attribute, his being was tied to this dimensional force, but with his meta-knowledge, he planned to break it. That was the foundation of his plan, and even with it, he couldn't be certain of success.
He had to constantly doubt his own mind. This wasn't like fighting a creature's enthrallment; his mind wasn't being tampered with. He simply had to attempt to see everything from a vantage point outside the narrative he was shackled to.
But despite his enhanced mind, he was still human. There was too much he didn't understand, too much to calculate, and worst of all, too much at stake. What if his assumptions about the behavior of Fate were wrong? What if, by being tied to the narrative, his plan was already revealed? What if—
A sudden scoff interrupted his insecurities. Only a second had passed in the real world.
"No, but really, Mr. Inconvenient," Effie said, leaning back. "What really happened to you? You disappear for three months and come back looking like this? I mean, you weren't exactly a model before, but this is just insulting."
Zachary turned his head sharply toward her. The storm of impossible emotions behind his gaze suddenly softened into a genuine smile.
'Stop this nonsense, Zach. I've run the simulations countless times. I'm on the right track. The only thing I have to worry about is a sudden counterattack from Fate, and for that, I'm ready.'
He leaned back in his chair, flashing a mocking grin at the huntress. "A stone hit me."
Behind him, Kai passed a tired hand over his eyes, no longer trying to guess how a mere stone could cause such gruesome, localized ruin. Leaning over Zachary's shoulder, the archer whispered loud enough for the entire table to hear, "She's lying. About your attractiveness, I mean..."
Effie's eyes widened, but before she could argue with the dashing archer, Zachary snapped his fingers in a show of mock embarrassment. "Damn, how did I forget? Where are my manners? Sorry about that, man."
Turning back to the table, he gestured toward Kai. "Everyone, meet my good friend Kai. He's a little slow around the edges, but a friend nonetheless. These are Cassie, Nephis, Effie, and over there is Caster."
Kai looked down at Zachary, shook his head, and took a seat to his right. Sighing tiredly, he finally spoke, his voice warm and bright. "Uh... hello. Lady Nephis, Cassie, Caster... Huntress Athena. It's very nice to meet you."
Cassie turned toward the archer's voice, a small giggle escaping her. "Huh. You won't believe it, guys, but I thought I just heard Night from Nightingale say my name. Crazy, right?"
Kai blinked, then flashed a smug, knowing smile at Zachary. "Oh, sorry. I am Night from Nightingale, actually."
Zachary raised an eyebrow at the idol's pride. 'Why is this guy so proud of himself?'
He already knew the answer. In the original story, Sunny had completely ignored the existence of Nightingale, which was why Kai found it refreshing to meet someone who treated him as a person rather than a celebrity. Conversely, Zachary had made it clear he knew exactly what Nightingale was, but had also made it clear he didn't respect the band at all—even going as far as dissing them to the lead vocalist's face.
It was as if Kai had met a hater and was working overtime to get his approval. Despite his modest act, Kai was someone who took pride in his profession.
Shaking his head with a smirk, Zachary turned toward the head of the table. He addressed Nephis calmly. "So, what is this all about, Neph? And will there be any refreshments? I'm famished."
"See? I told you," Effie said, turning to Nephis as well.
Nephis ignored the huntress completely, giving a silent signal to Caster instead. The Legacy scion walked to the door and closed it, casting a final, lingering look at Zachary's face. He held the gaze for a few seconds—a silent evaluation—before finally summoning a bone flute and placing it on the table.
Zachary immediately focused his enhanced hearing. He noted the sudden, dead silence that pressed in from outside the room. Giving the group a knowing smile, he said mirthfully, "Oh my, such secrecy. What is this, our own private Council of Elrond?"
Caster looked at him with a blank, strange expression. "What?"
"I... I think it's from a book," Effie answered, though she sounded far from certain.
Zachary was surprised the huntress had caught the reference at all. Clicking a finger in her direction, he said with a casual shrug, "It's a secret meeting where the Great and Good come together to talk about a crusade to a distant mountain and how to deal with a specific, troublesome piece of jewelry."
Comparing the One Ring and Mount Doom to their current situation was almost insulting in its simplicity, but the description matched their plan for the Hollow Mountains and the Dawn Shard with hilarious precision.
Caster and Effie caught the similarities too. They turned briefly toward Nephis before quickly regaining their professional composure. But before Zachary could laugh at their reaction, Nephis sighed and turned her focus on him.
"We can talk about that later..." She studied him for a few seconds before continuing. "For now, let us address the most pressing topics."
Glancing at her companions, Nephis looked out the window toward the Bright Castle. With a final, weary sigh, she began explaining their situation in a grave tone. Her story began just after their parting—a chronicle of a Settlement that continued to grind toward a singular, desperate goal. She explained how, with her growing influence, the tension with the Castle had escalated. Nephis spoke of events Zachary already knew from the novel and others he had managed to deduce himself.
In all honesty, however, he wasn't really listening.
He hadn't thought much about it before, but after his time alone in the Ruins—living through settings that were entirely his own—Zachary had become aware of a growing friction. He felt a profound discomfort in following a set narrative.
Upon first arriving in this world, he had told himself he would let the main cast handle the plot while he focused on his own survival and problems. Life, predictably, had other ideas. But after surviving a sentence dealt by Fate and steeling his will to defy it, he could feel the road moving in a destined direction more vividly than ever. The limits of the narrative were clear to him, yet he couldn't help but wonder:
'Would things have changed if I had decided to intervene earlier?'
His resolve had only truly sparked after his talk with Harper, by which time the conflict of the Forgotten Shore had already been cemented between Nephis and Gunlaug. Could things have gone differently if he had acted sooner?
Most probably not.
Zachary didn't know the specifics of how the force he knew as Fate behaved in this world. He knew it tied everything together, determining all that once existed, all that exists, and all that is expected to be. But the how still felt foreign—which was to be expected. It returned to the same premise of a three-dimensional being trying to understand a higher-order reality. However, he did understand one concept that remained constant across all worlds:
The Law of Cause and Effect.
The story of the Forgotten Shore had been developing long before his arrival. The "weight" of Gunlaug's reign was far heavier than any new narrative Zachary tried to stitch into the fabric of the world. Gunlaug's "causes"—his past—carried more mass in the narrative, making his "consequences" more certain to manifest. That was the core of Zachary's understanding: for a specific future to happen, it required a specific past.
Fate had been accumulating mass since the beginning; that was why it felt impossible to change. And yet, it had happened in the novel, and Zachary was attempting the same feat with only that feeble certainty to guide him.
A Fool's endeavor, in every sense of the word.
His plan relied on the three cores of the Forgotten Shore story to give his own narrative enough inertia to counter the pre-existing one. It was his only hope. He wasn't actually trying to break Fate; he was just trying to wedge an opening into the script to allow everyone to escape this hell.
Zachary might be a Fool, but he wasn't stupid. He was honest with his feelings, and he was scared—terribly so. It was a known fact in literature, philosophy, and myth: bad things happened to those renegades who tried to overwrite their own history. And unfortunately for Zachary, he was the one holding the pen.
"Actually, I might know something about that!" Kai suddenly said brightly.
The sudden spark in the archer's voice acted like a tether, pulling Zachary back from the cold depths of his thoughts and into the conversation.
"Oh yes, the ones keeping you in that well, right?" Zachary added.
Kai nodded, but before the idol could explain his side of the story, Zachary spoke with a casualness that bordered on the clinical. "Yep. I killed them."
The room plunged into a sudden, pressurized silence. Every person present fixed their gaze on him, a kaleidoscope of differing reactions. Kai looked profoundly shocked, his expression tinged with a faint, shivering fear. Effie raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued but layered with a vague doubt. Caster watched him with newfound wariness, while Cassie's face contorted into surprise followed by a fleeting trace of sorrow that vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"Hey, don't give me those looks. And yes, I'm looking at you, Cass." The blind seer was caught off guard, her sorrow replaced by an insulted huff.
"I haven't turned into some kind of madman who goes around killing for the sake of it," Zachary continued, his voice steady. "Those guys attacked me first... and in all honesty, I really tried to let them live."
At his words, Kai's expression softened. After a few seconds spent dissecting the truth, he spoke, his voice sounding more worried than shocked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Zachary could guess the weight on the archer's conscience; Kai likely felt a pang of guilt knowing his rescue had been bought with the lives of his captors.
He shrugged. "You never asked."
Before the archer could press further, Zachary turned back toward the head of the table. He had been surprised by Cassie's reaction, her surprise had been genuine. Whether she was shocked by the revelation itself or the fact that she hadn't "seen" it happen remained unclear. Either way, it didn't matter much. He hadn't revealed anything more than she likely already suspected. The girls were well aware of his detachment—they had even recognized it even before he had.
Studying Nephis's expression, Zachary's mind flickered briefly to their conversation on that final night before returning to the present.
"So, this actually works for you, Neph, doesn't it?" he asked, leaning forward. "Effie isn't guilty of anything. I'm no longer part of your group. You can blame the whole mess on me and even hand me over to the Host. You know well enough that I'm quite 'coveted' by them."
Effie bit back a surprised smirk, while Caster eyed Nephis calculatively, clearly weighing the tactical benefits of that option. But Nephis saw neither of them. She was staring intently at Zachary, who met her grey eyes, noting the faint, controlled anger burning behind them.
After a few seconds, she shook her head, her voice relaxing. "No. That would only postpone the inevitable. Sooner or later, another reason would be used as justification. Besides... we need you for something else."
She glanced at Effie for a moment before her eyes locked back onto his. "I need you to keep Effie safe in your hideout in the Ruins for a week. After that..." She surveyed everyone in the room before finally declaring in a voice of profound weight:
"We will be ready to leave the Dark City."
"We?" Zachary asked, pointing a finger at his own chest. "I didn't know you spo—"
"I don't speak French," Nephis cut in, sighing tiredly. "This is the core of this meeting, and why I asked you to come. It's actually pretty close to that Project Elrond or whatever you called it."
With a silent signal, another map was produced. Zachary studied it carefully, but it wasn't the landmarks or the nature of the map itself that caught his attention. It was the discrepancy between this and the map he had found in the Ruins—the last will of the nameless Sleeper for the future generations. That one had been far more detailed and precise.
He wasn't entirely surprised. While his found map was a specific route to the Crimson Spire, this was a comprehensive layout of the entire Forgotten Shore. It was logical for there to be a difference in scope.
Zachary studied the parchment for a few seconds before tapping the drawing of a crown. "So... the 'piece of jewelry' and the 'crusade to the mountains'?" he asked, his voice laced with amusement.
Nephis sighed at the simplification, but Zachary caught the faint, almost invisible upward curve of her lips.
With a nod, she continued. "The First Lord of the castle led an expedition to find a way out of the Forgotten Shore. This is where their trail disappeared. From what we've learned, an unassailable mountain chain blocks the path to the south. They ventured into those mountains... and never returned. Only death awaits us there."
"Mount Doom, in fact," Zachary muttered to himself.
"What?"
"Nothing. Continue." He coughed awkwardly into his fist.
She eyed him for a few beats before explaining. "There is an item they took from the castle. If we find it... we will have a chance in the fight against Gunlaug."
He didn't really need the explanation, but he was curious about another detail. Almost as if reading his thoughts, Nephis added carefully, "The way to the mountains is not as dangerous as you think. There is... a method we can use to reach them in comparative safety. But once we arrive... that is where we will need your abilities. Having you with us will make many things easier... if you're willing."
"So you're going to drag me out to the Dark Sea again? My, how heartless." Zachary exhaled in mock reproach.
She frowned, but before she could retort, Zachary continued. "Ok, that's fine by me, let's do it. But what's in it for me?"
Nephis opened her eyes wide clearly surprised by his quick agreement, by her reaction she had expected him to argue more. Caster, meanwhile reacted differently. Knittinh his brows together, looking almost insulted by the question. He turned sharply toward Zachary, but the philosopher raised his hands defensively.
"Don't look at me like that, man," he told Caster, sighing. "I'm not going to work pro bono, especially not when I'm putting myself at risk on the sea. As the head of a successful company, I know better than to underpay my workers and interns."
Kai frowned at the statement, likely wondering what kind of 'company' a Dreamer could possibly be running. Before he could ask, Nephis spoke in a serious tone.
"What do you want?"
Zachary looked at her carefully. Her grey eyes were searching his remaining crimson one for an opening. Finally, he leaned back in his chair. "I'll tell you later. It's nothing big, really. You have nothing to worry about."
In truth, there was nothing he actually needed at the moment. His Core was fully saturated, and he possessed a good—almost unfair—array of Memories and Echoes. The one thing he truly required, Nephis wouldn't be able to provide yet. With that in mind, he turned back to her.
"So, I guess I'll be taking care of your Effie for the coming week." Looking sideways at the huntress, he added with a grin, "Is she fully vaccinated? Does she have enough food for the coming days?"
Effie whipped her head toward him so fast Zachary feared for her neck. A murderous glow sparked in her eyes as her grin widened dangerously, but before she could snap back, a sharp snort erupted from the far end of the table.
Effie turned, stunned, but Nephis's expression remained as impassive as ever. Ignoring Effie's glare, Nephis spoke. "Yes. She has already packed her rations. You won't have to worry about anything aside from keeping her in your hideout."
Zachary nodded and stood up with a weary sigh.
"So, that's everything? I guess we'll be seeing each other soon, so farewells are unnecessary." He turned to Kai, who was also rising. The dashing archer caught his gaze and offered a discrete, meaningful nod.
'So, no lies. Expected,' Zachary thought, stretching until a yawn escaped his lips. 'Well, here it is. The story is taking the next step and, like it or not, I'm ready. I've already made my first move with Harper; I just need to prepare for the ones to come. First, I should—'
"Zach... before you go, can I talk to you? Alone?"
Nephis's words acted like a physical hand on his shoulder, stopping him as he reached for the door. He looked back, surprised to find he wasn't the only one taken aback by the request. Raising a curious eyebrow, he gave Kai a dismissive nod before walking back to the table.
"Well, of course we can talk."
He watched the others file out. On his way, Caster cast a strange, searching look at him before leaving with a subtle twist of his lips. Zachary sat calmly in the chair farthest from Nephis. He wanted to lean back on its hind legs, but the delicate craftsmanship didn't inspire enough confidence for the attempt.
Nephis watched him for several long seconds. He studied her grey eyes; despite her aloof mask, Cinder Eyes revealed the white-hot furnace of emotion burning beneath the surface. Zachary arched an eyebrow, waiting in silence, until Nephis finally let out a sigh.
"What is with you?" she asked. It was a simple question, yet it carried a staggering depth of feeling.
Zachary was caught off guard. "I beg your pardon?"
She studied him for another beat before walking to his end of the table, stopping barely a meter away.
"Ever since that night, I've been trying to understand you—to make sense of the strangeness that surrounds you. And yet, I can't." She looked at him with unsettling seriousness. "So I'll ask directly: what is with you?"
He considered the question carefully, weighing the myriad of answers he could give and the consequences each might birth. After a few seconds, he coughed into his hand. "...You'll have to be more specific than that."
Her lips pulled into a frown that vanished as quickly as it appeared. "What are you after, Zach? Why would you agree so easily to accompany us when you are so clearly afraid of the sea?"
Zachary felt a jolt of surprise at the sharpness of the question. He always tended to underestimate Nephis's intuition.
After a few seconds he began speaking carefully. "Do you remember... that night when I begged you to change your approach? To try and take as many of those following you as possible?"
Nephis's eyes darkened, but eventually, she nodded.
"You didn't believe my intentions then, and honestly, I don't blame you," Zachary continued. "Even now, I struggle to explain why I'm doing what I'm doing."
He looked up at her for a long time. Her eyes remained fixed on him, dissecting every micro-expression. With a sigh, he pivoted. "Back in the Labyrinth, you asked me if I would have helped Cassie if I had found her instead of you. Remember?"
Nephis's eyes flashed with the memory. She looked at him closely, likely comparing his past answer to his current actions. Finally, she nodded.
"Well, I forgot to ask you something then. Why did you help her? In that moment, knowing you were in an unexplored part of the Dream Realm, why burden yourself with a blind girl?"
Nephis closed her eyes, perhaps recalling the image of a crying girl atop a mountain of coral, waiting for a death that never came. When she opened them, she looked at Zachary and said simply:
"Because I wanted to."
Zachary snapped a finger at her. "Bingo."
"I simply want to see a better ending for this story, Neph," he said with a weary sigh, standing up and closing the distance between them. "To be honest, I'm still questioning my decision, and yet I'm ready to see it to the end."
Nephis didn't flinch or back away. She looked up at him with that burning, terrifying determination that defined her existence.
"That's what I'm after, Neph. And the best way to achieve it is by helping you." Zachary paused, a crooked, slightly melancholic smile touching his lips. "I know your goals differ from mine, and I'm in no position to refute them. But let me give you a piece of advice..."
He began walking toward the door, speaking over his shoulder.
"Reaching your goal is important. There's no doubt about that. But the way you reach it is even more important. Don't lose yourself for the sake of your convictions."
Her eyes widened, but before she could respond, Zachary pulled the door open. He looked back and flashed her a grin—the kind of roguish, charming smile that felt hauntingly foreign on his scarred face.
"You're still young, Neph. Take it as the advice of a foolish man. Anyway... see you in a week."
He closed the door, leaving Changing Star alone in the silence of her own thoughts.