He opened his eyes.

Shouldn't be possible, should it? Do people retain their eyelids in death? Was this what the afterlife looked and felt like? He was floating; his body seemed to be suspended in still waters. It's only going to be a matter of time before he loses control and plunges into the unknown depths once more. He waited for it and tried to get his lungs, limbs, or anything, to work. It didn't come. He's still floating. Floating to where?

Why did the afterlife have a blue ceiling?

Slowly, feeling returned to his muscles. By the stars, how tired and heavy they were. His chest was tight as if a sugrarsask was sitting on it; his neck felt like it was made of iron. It had taken him a while to realize that he was not floating. Rather, he was lying on his back on a bed of dry straws.

Straws. He knew he should hate it. But why?

"I see you are awake," a female voice said somewhere to his left.

He turned his eyes towards that direction despite his neck protesting against it. His breath hitched as great pain washed over his whole body. A weak groan escaped his lips.

"Do not force yourself, Ceris," the voice said again. His eyes refused to register anything except blurred spots of blue, green, and brown. He knew the names of the colors, how fun. Ceris...was that his name?

"You are still healing from your fall," the voice continued, its smooth and silky tone lulling him back to sleep. Sleep was good, right? "You should be feeling quite sore right now. I have done all I can to speed it up. The rest is up to you."

What happened?

The question speared through his mind like lightning on a stormy night. Panic squeezed his throat when he realized that where his memories were supposed to be was just a black, blank wall. He pushed himself up, wincing at the pain exploding in his gut. His world tilted and spun.

"Ceris?" the voice called.

He breathed once, twice. His chest heaved as sweat poured off his back and beaded on his forehead. Fingers clutched against his head but even those felt weird against his skin. They seemed to be skinned off completely. Remember. He had to remember. What happened?

Remember. Why was he alive? He shouldn't...

His eyes widened as something clicked. His breaths shuddered. Yes, he shouldn't be alive. He shouldn't be here. This wasn't how it's supposed to be. So how was it supposed to be? A sly voice echoed at the back of his head, taunting him. His heartbeat grew faster until it was pounding against his temples and ringing in his ears.

How was it supposed to be?

Remember!

A cry of pain tumbled off his lips as he fell from where he was perched. He had to figure it out. Where...

He sprawled on the cold, hard ground. His vision blurred and sharpened, over and over. His limbs felt as if a thousand knives were being stabbed and twisted into them. "Ceris!" the voice called again. That's not...

He clutched his head as his entire body was overtaken with a wave of pain that shook his entire being. That's not...

His tongue unlatched from the roof of his mouth. A dark expanse replaced the blanket of blue in his vision. It was an unfathomable void, swallowing even the air around him. Breathe...

He couldn't.

Something pressed into his chest and he screamed, at least that's how it sounded to his ears. Pain leeched his consciousness away from him. The voice kept crying out a name that wasn't his. Come on, remember. What was his name? Why was he here? He cried out again as the answer slammed into his mind. His chest constricted. Lights danced in his mind, forming some sort of memory.

Lights. The pain. Yes, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. "I should not be alive," he whispered into the depths caving in his body. He couldn't recognize his voice. He couldn't recognize anything. "And my name is Nyxis."

With that, his thoughts snapped and scattered into every direction possible. Pain slammed into his very core, squeezing every inch of him and eating into his soul. It had only taken a few moments to surrender.

This time, he truly drowned.

Rhys woke up with a start, sitting up quickly enough to slam his forehead against Airese's chin. "Oomph!" The brownie stumbled backwards before falling to her rear. She glared at Rhys while rubbing her busted chin. "Must you do that?"

Rhys blinked. He's...on the mattress. What happened? The last thing he remembered was hearing about them going to the Ice Capital. After that...nothing. He faced Airese. "What happened?"

"Eldan, who is a genius, mind you, forgot to tell you that rosularia had mild soothing effects," she rolled her eyes and leveled her gaze back at Rhys. "Combine that with days with merely enough sleep, you're bound to pass out."

Rhys's gut twisted. Did he leave Reeca alone with these strangers? How sloppy. This was unforgivable. Stupid, even. "H-how long was I out?"

"Just a few hours," Aries glanced at the sheet Rhys had fixed up to be a curtain. "That's still nearly not enough but you'll be able to stand up without the world spinning, at least."

Rhys groaned as he edged off the mattress. His fingers brushed the familiar sheets. He froze. This bed...His heart leaped to his throat as he whirled to Airese. "Where's Reeca?"

"Eldan's with her. Relax," Airese tucked her long hair behind her ear. She stood up from her sitting position and turned towards the foyer. "I'm gonna go and help Marthiaq with the stew. Rest some more."

"Stew?" Rhys asked. His mind seemed to have forgotten how to think critically.

Airese whipped to him and nodded. "Then we'll see about the journey to the Ice Capital."

Rhys opened his mouth to reply but Airese had already disappeared towards the kitchen. He pursed his lips and sighed. Did he pass out because of a simple flower concoction? If these people weren't what they were, he and his sister would already be captured or dead. A slew of curses tumbled off his lips. Reeca depended on him and this was how he repaid her? Pathetic.

He shook his head. No matter. This wouldn't happen again. He stood up and padded to the common area where Eldan and Reeca had sat cross-legged. The nature fairy was talking in an animated tone, waving his hand here and there, imitating an explosion sound. Reeca laughed.

Rhys's heart skipped a beat. His sister just laughed. The first real laugh since two months ago. This...

Reeca ran her hand against a lanky, white cat perched on her lap, listening intently at Eldan's story about rampaging serodis. Clearly, the guy had fun adventures from wherever he was. Rhys strode towards them, catching Eldan's attention.

The nature fairy waved at him as he silently took a space beside his sister. "I'm sorry about that rosularia," Eldan said as Rhys glared at the cat for biting him. "Sahili's fangs are made of belphine and leaving wounds made by those could fester and be extremely painful," the nature fairy was saying. "I had to use that flower to heal it immediately. Then, I forgot that it was an effective calming plant so you passed out."

"Yeah, it's fine," Rhys didn't need a rehash of what happened to him. "Thank you."

Eldan nodded, his eyes twinkling a bit in the setting sun. He opened his mouth to continue his story but Rhys beat him to it. "Can I ask you something?" Rhys blurted just as Airese burst out of the kitchen, announcing dinner.

Eldan grunted as he pushed himself up. "Yeah, sure. Ask away at dinner."

Rhys nodded, stood up, and helped his sister towards the dining area. He raised his eyebrows at the plates laid out on the table and at the apparent cleanliness of the table. "What happened to the rot and the mercok?" he asked.

"Oh, I asked the mercok queen to find somewhere else to live," Eldan explained as coolly as saying that he bought candied fruits for Jered Sansane. Rhys watched the nature fairy settle into a seat. "As for the rot, it's only a matter of reversing decay on the wood with a dazzle of nature fairy magic."

Rhys nodded mutely as he took a seat opposite Eldan and Airese. Reeca settled beside him with Marthiaq taking the head of the rectangular table. The meal began.

Rhys took one sip of the stew and smacked his lips at the explosion of flavor it brought into his palate. Marthiaq's cooking skills were divine as this was one of the most heavenly stew Rhys had tasted in all his life. The way the strong, tangy taste of the meat was coaxed out into the stock was just...genius. After a few minutes, he had already eaten his fill, making Airese raise her eyebrows in amusement.

"So, my question," Rhys said, shoveling a spoonful of meat into his mouth from his second helpings. The smoke from the hot cauldron in the center of the table obscured his view of Eldan's face. "Who are you? What are you doing here of all the places you could be? How in Umazure do you know my mother?"

Marthiaq set his spoon down. "To tell you everything will be too long," he glanced at his companions. "Let's just say we're recently-united friends who have known Phiaris Torlin for a long time."

Rhys raised an eyebrow. "Recently-reunited?" he asked. "Why are you separated in the first place?"

"Conflict of circumstance," Eldan answered. "Airese, here, was captured by the Synketros for the past fifteen years. Marthiaq is off gathering information that might help us free Airese. And I..." He trailed off and Airese picked up where he left off. "Eldan had been prohibited to leave Dwanzeig in exchange for protection. He knew that either the Heiress or the Sovereign will be after him as soon as the Synketros got me. This idiot locked himself inside the territory, managing the Grand Monarch's spies."

"And even with all that information in his grasp, he wasn't able to find you?" Rhys turned to Aiirese.

The female brownie winced. "The Sovereign is tight-lipped when it comes to opportunities for blackmail," she said. "What's amusing is that she wasn't able to use me at all because your sister freed me even before she could."

Rhys whirled to Reeca who daintily sipped soup from her spoon. "You what?"

Reeca set her spoon down just as Marthiaq picked his up and began eating again. "It's what ticked the Sovereign off," her voice was brittle and papery. "I set Airese free even though she and Elred warned me not to."

Rhys curled his fist. He wanted to strangle Reeca then and there. Was that why she was like this? Was it because she's feeling responsible for the Narfalk raid? That if she hadn't set Airese free, they would still have a home and a race that was actually alive?

Unbelievable. He's got no issue in Reeca doing what the hell she wants. He's more bothered that she had begun regretting her actions. Regret was never a good companion in life.

Rhys faced Airese again. "So...you're here because you wanted to thank her?"

"We are looking for the Virtakios," Eldan paused for a while. "My daughter."

Rhys's eyes widened. "Your—"

Airese waved her hand in impatience. "Yes, yes. Xanthiene Vivenca is our daughter," she jabbed a finger against the recently-fixed table. "She was last spotted in Acosa. We tracked her soul and it seems like she's heading towards Lanteglos. We thought she'd head towards her friends and you two are the most reasonable ones she'd run to."

"There is a possibility that she'd go back to the Disfavoreds after the island has turned upon its head," Marthiaq added. "It's too much of a coincidence to find you two here as well."

"And you're going to the Ice Capital to...?"

"To hide, of course," Eldan said, looking over his shoulder as if expecting something hostile to appear behind him at any opportune time. "I broke my pact with the Grand Monarch of Dwanzeig. That gives them the right to execute me on sight. Airese is on the wanted list of the Synketros. Marthiaq too."

Rhys turned to the quiet brownie. "Why him?"

Eldan cast a dubious glance at his friend. "Because he stole something other than the Sovereign's compass."

"Shut up," Marthiaq glared at the nature fairy with his cheeks bright red. "That never happened. Everything is too vague, anyway."

Eldan chuckled. "Fine, fine. If you say so."

Rhys glanced back and forth between them. That's supposed to be some sort of inside joke between friends. He shouldn't think too much about what it could possibly mean. Instead, he cleared his throat. "What makes you think the people in the Ice Capital will accept fugitives?" he scratched the side of his face. "That is, assuming the Ice Capital and the Ice Sprites even exist."

"They exist, alright," Airese shoved a spoonful of stew into her mouth. "I know just as well where to enter."

"And you've known that because...?"

"You would have to be executed with me in front of the Brownie Council if I tell you," Airese met Rhys's gaze with a menacing grin on her lips. She inclined her head to one side. "Care to listen?"

Rhys gulped. Reeca went back to slurping her soup.

Airese seemed satisfied at his silence. "I thought so. You've chosen wisely," she circled her spoon to drive out the meat from the soup. "Yes, we have thought that whoever was after us will figure out that we have run to the Ice Capital and will immediately put the peaceful people living there in danger."

"We have a plan," Marthiaq interjected.

"Do you want to come?" Airese asked Rhys.

Rhys knitted his eyebrows. "What? Why?"

Airese raised her eyes at the moldy ceiling. "You have nowhere left to run. Might as well come with us. It's safer down there."

Rhys looked at Reeca. His fingers clenched. If it all came to protecting Reeca, he would go anywhere, whether it's a place of myth or somewhere that didn't really exist. "We would like to," he met Airese's peculiar eyes. "Tell me about the plan."