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❝  𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸?....𝗜-𝗜...𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲  ❞
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Silalynn stayed in Hage Village for the next week and in that time she decided to help a Blacksmith in his shop. Technically speaking, he was a retired Magic Knight who used his magic as a sword and then decided to make living forging swords, what can I say, man has an obsession with swords. During her time here she learned more about Nightingale and their magic, but that was just theory she couldn't apply it without being in jeopardy of someone finding out what she was doing. But she wasn't able to gather the courage to visit Lydia's grave. Or perhaps she knew she failed Lydia and didn't deserve to visit her grave. Either way, she was being a coward. It seems that Lydia's words became more and more real to Sila every day.

"Mirita!" A voice broke Sila out of her thoughts. "Ah, Lord Ravenswood. I'm sorry I didn't mean to space out, is there something you need?". Elyas Ravenswood, the blacksmith Sila was currently working for, was a man in his early forties who wielded a variation of fire magic (it may be a variation of fire magic but there's not a big enough difference for people to rename it), and he was a retired member of the Magic Knights from the Crimson Lion Kings. His last name sounded familiar to Sila so she did a bit of digging and found out that the Ravenswood family were nobles who then fell into ruin 7 years ago, knowing this and how Elyas was, Sila assumed that he didn't want to tear down the reputation of the Crimson Lion Kings so he left the Magic Knights. This also explained why he had so much mana compared to everyone else in Hage.

Elyas sighed. "Mirita, you've been hammering that blade for ten minutes" the older man then processed to take it out of her hands. "Forget the shape of it, you can't even mold it to look like a sword anymore!" looked at the blade and realized the issue. The "blade" looked more like a lopsided ball of metal, to which she let out a small "ohh". Elyas facepalmed and used his fire magic to melt the metal again and made Sila make the blade properly, which she did (by some miracle). "Ok Kiddo, now tell me what's wrong" Sometimes it was unfair how well someone whom Sila barely knew managed to read her. "What do you mean Lord Ravenswood?" And as always Sila would feign ignorance.

"I'm not stupid" Elyas started. "I know the entire time you've been here you've been lying to everyone. I'm not saying that you can't, it's your life, and any mistakes you make won't affect me, but some things have been bothering you for a while now". Internally Sila was screaming and yelling, not because she made a mistake, but because Elyas was persistent and he wanted answers. She knew she wouldn't get out of this without having to say something true. "Well, yes, I am only human so I do lie to people. There has not been a single person in the world who hasn't lied to another! In fact back in-"

"Out with it Silva" Sila looked back at Elyas with wide eyes and the blacksmith was understandably running out of patience. At Sila's silence, Elyas decided it was time he explained, "Did you not expect me to figure it out? Anyone with half a brain cell could. You share the same features as the other members of house Silva, I'm a former noble so I've had to have seen you at some point, and you have the same unique magic as the Captain of the Silver Eagles"

Sila narrowed her eyes and pulled off her meanest glare. "And what do you plan to do with that information?"

Elyas shrugged. "Calm down, I could care less about all of this information. All I want to know is why the Silva prodigy has suddenly appeared again after a year of disappearance, is using a fake identity, and is the most spaced out and depressed person I've ever seen"

"I...do I really look that depressed?"

"That's your first reaction?!" Elyas sighed for the nth time that day. "To most people, they wouldn't have noticed but I'm good at reading people" Sila crossed her arms and allowed herself to relax. "In the year I was gone I met someone and then I lost them," She said, Elyas could tell she was referring to the other girl the villagers had found and buried when Sila first arrived. "And I was thinking that I never went to their grave to pay my respects, but despite having the chances....I don't go.." Sila looked down in shame. How could someone be so heartless as to not visit their own friend's grave? Elyas eventually got up and started walking past her to the other room. "Of course," Sila thought, "I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?"

"If you were truly friends then I think that girl would be happy to see you visit her grace when you're ready" And with that Elyas left the room and Sila was left alone. She grabbed the group of hair that was on the left side of her face and twirled it around her fingers and hand. "Silva features huh?...it appears I'm gonna need some hair dye" not a moment later she went out and bought some hair dye and ran back to her room to use it. "Really? Do you think hair dyes gonna stop people from recognizing you?" Nightingale came out in their human form and looked at Sila with a skeptical look.

Silalynn shook her head. "I know it won't work, some people, especially nobles and royals, would recognize my face immediately" the silver-haired girl was currently reading the instructions on the bottle and attempting to understand it. "Then why get it?" Nightingale asked, peering over Sila's shoulder to also try and read it. Sila stayed quiet for a moment as she pondered her answer. "Maybe...maybe I would like to try something new. And besides my eldest brother would never allow me to dye my hair so I gotta take the chance when I have it!"

Nightingale sighed. Even those reasons weren't completely honest, but they'd let it go for now. "In that case, I'll help you out" Gale smirked as they grabbed the bottle from Sila. "Hey!" The Royal tried to grab it back but failed. "Relax! I've been alive for ages and have had 2 other hosts before, one of which used hair dye! I'm sure I'm qualified to do this!" Every worry that Sila brought up Gale was able to shut down, and in the end, she sighed and allowed Nightingale to work her magic. It took a few hours but it finally worked and Nightingale had successfully dyed Sila's hair! Well, technically only one part, just a streak using the hair that made up her bangs on the left side of her head.

"Wow I'm surprised, you actually didn't make a mess of my hair!" Sila stared at herself in the mirror while running her hand through the black streak in her hair. "Y'know, sometimes just a "thank you" would be enough," Gale said in a blank tone but a small smile crept onto their face as they thought, "This is the most lively I've ever seen her. Great now I can't feed off of her negative emotions"

"Oh, that's right!" Gale suddenly remembered something. "Today's our last night here and we leave tomorrow morning for the Capital" Sila turned back to Gale, "Wait, last night?-" the Royal looked outside and yup, it was already nighttime. "In that case perhaps it's best we get some sleep" Nightingale nodded and disappeared again as Sila got ready for bed.

Man, it's gonna be a long night.

The Royal wasn't able to register when she fell asleep but she had to at some point. Otherwise, why would she be seeing Lydia, alive that is.

"Lydia?" Sila mumbled, reaching her hand out to see if she was seeing a ghost. But her hand never reached. "Of course, I'm probably just dreaming" The royal forced her hand to rest at her side as Lydia disappeared and she was surrounded by darkness. "Wait... am I lucid dreaming....? That would explain why I saw Lydia, but then why can't I move? If I'm in control I should allow myself to-" Silalynn froze. There, in front of her, was the one person she never wanted to see again.

"Lady Vanica?..."

Within seconds Sila's fight or flight response was triggered. Run, run and never see that woman's face or hear her voice ever again, her mind cried out, but her body wasn't agreeing with her mind. So Sila was forced to stand there and face Vanica. Suddenly Lydia appeared again and Sila could finally move, signaled when she fell to her knees. The royal looked at the darkness below her before looking back at her passed friend. "That's so much blood..." Sila reached her hand out again and placed it on Lydia's shoulder. There was dried blood around Lydia's mouth, her nose, injuries that reopened, the blood-stained bandages she wore, and obviously, the giant hole in her chest. "Of course, there would be blood" Sila jumped as she heard the familiar voice. Lydia was speaking to her.

Sila looked at Lydia with sullen eyes. No, she had to remember, this isn't Lydia, this is her dream, she isn't real. Suddenly Lydia was hugging her and Sila broke down. Screaming, mumbling, apologizing, crying, Sila couldn't tell what she was saying anymore. A mixture of "I'm sorry", "please", and "come back" tumbled out of her mouth as she buried her face in Lydia's shoulder.

"You want me to come back?" Lydia's voice was uncharacteristically grim, to which Sila could only helplessly nod. "The dead can't come back to life, that's a law of nature. And besides..." Sila felt something drip onto her hand and get soaked up by her clothes, and that's when she realized that the hole in the dream Lydia's chest had blood overflowing from it. "Why should I listen to that wish? Weren't you the one you failed to save me?"

And for that Sila didn't have an answer and continued to stare at the blood gushing out. Dream Lydia sighed, "Well now I've said what you wanted to hear in the voice and body of the person you needed to tell you that" the grim expression and voice disappeared, and Lydia's normal voice tone and smile replaced it.

"Come on Shiruko, it's time to wake up"

Sila opened her eyes and felt someone slightly shaking her, whom, after her eyes focused again, recognized to be Nightingale, in their human form that is. "Nightmare?" the devil asked and Sila nodded. Sila looked out the window, it was a bright sunny day, and adults and children were already out starting to do their jobs and play. After that dream she felt slightly disoriented and for some reason, dizzy. As Nightingale shifts back to their familiar form Sila finishes grabbing the last of her things (almost all of which were given to her by the church) but she paused as she grabbed Lydia's flute and thought about her dream. She's then snapped out of her thoughts when Gale takes the flute and tosses it into her bag. "What? It's time to go and you were taking forever to put it inside so I did it for you!"

Sila playfully rolled her eyes and grabbed the bag. "Come on, you have to hide, no one can know about your existence" Gale muttered a small "alright, alright" before disappearing again. The silver-haired girl changed her clothes and fixed herself up before heading out the door and being met by Sister Lily and Father Orsi. "Thank you for your hospitality" Sila quickly bowed, "I'll make sure that I come back and pay you back for your kindness," she said with a smile.

"Miss Mirita, we appreciate that, but it won't be necessary. You've helped our village a lot since you've come here" Father Orsi smiled back, appreciating the thought.

"Father Orsi is right" Sister Lily added on. "And besides, what kind of people would we be if we didn't help someone injured"

Sila internally cringed. The people of Hage Village have been nothing but kind and here she was lying to them until the very end. It caused an ugly twisting feeling inside of her but she pushed it down and forced herself to ignore it. "Well then...I shall take my leave. When I'm in the Capital I'll make sure to visit when I can-"

"Mirita!" a familiar voice called out to her. It was no other than Elyas, and he appeared to be carrying something.

"Sir Ravenswood" Sila turned to face the fire magic user. Elyas handed Sila what he was carrying, "Here take this, I forged it for you" he signaled for her to open it. Sila took the wrappings off, not too excited because she knew it was a sword. But her eyes widened in awe when she saw the sword and Sila wanted to punch the smug look on Elyas's face off. "It's quite beautiful isn't it?". Sila nodded, brushing her fingers along the silver hilt, "Yeah... it's so pretty..". The sword itself was lightweight which would make it easier for Sila to wield it (especially since she was so physically weak) and its blade was sharp and the hilt was comfortable to hold onto. Said blade was black which made Sila wonder what material was used to forge it, and the hilt was a silver color.

A smile crept onto Sila's face, "Thank you Elyas" she then turned to Father Orsi and Sister Lily. "Thank you once again" she forgoes anything more she wanted to say before that ugly feeling before could resurface. And with that, she left Hage and continued her journey to the capital. Halfway there Gale reappeared and scared Sila with their sudden presence. "God, never do that again!" Sila took a few deep breaths as Gale rolled their eyes and gave a look at Sila which only served to confuse the royal. "What?"

"Hellooooooo, you said I could travel alongside you. Preferably I'd like to be in my human form" Sila let out a small "oh" when she realized that it would be weird to see a shadowy figure sitting on her shoulder. "Yeah, you can take your human form" Sila watched as the shadowy figure on her shoulder jumped off and their features turned more human-like, except for their legs. "What's up with your legs, why are they like you splashed ink over them" They weren't actually like that but Sila couldn't find another way to say it. "Oh, despite being one of the highest ranking devils there are still some features I can't fully hide. Things like my horns, wings, and tail I can but this is the only thing I can't" Gale explained.

Sila hummed and nodded as they got closer and closer to the Capital. They stopped by a town closer to the outskirts of the capital since it was getting dark and it would be easier for them to travel in the morning rather than the night. "You do realize you can use my magic to make it easier to travel at night" Well, Gale certainly wasn't happy about having to stay in a town. "Besides we don't have any money so we can't even stay at an actual place!"

"Gale! You are making a scene!" Silalynn hissed before giving a nervous smile to any onlookers. Gale rolled their eyes, "I'm not making a scene! Ever realize it's you!" They whisper yelled while Sila dragged them both away, apologizing for what just transpired. "What do you mean it's me?!" The silver-haired girl calmly (very calmly) asked.

"You're a royal and we're in a city near the capital, PEOPLE RECOGNIZE YOU!"

Sila took a moment to process those words before her face paled. "We're leaving this town, now." She said leaving no room for an argument (but Gale wouldn't argue since they wanted to leave anyway). The pair quickly made their way out of the town and continued on their way. "Now all you need to do is use Nightmare Fuel to enhance your sense of sight, that'll make it easier to see at night!" Gale said as soon as they left. Sila sighed, giving up on trying to not listen to Gale. "Alright, what's the spell?" the royal asked in an exasperated tone.

"First of all, we need a negative emotion to use. But I don't sense any nearby...hmmm, try feeding off your hatred for Vanica and the Spade Kingdom"

"Alright..."

"And say "Nightmare Fuel: Eyes of Hatred'"

Sila took in a deep breath, "..Nightmare Fuel: Eyes of Hatred" suddenly there was a pain in her eyes and they refused to focus making everything slightly blurry. After a few seconds (and Sila trying not to scream in pain) her eyes finally focused and she could see pretty easily in the dark. "That....that hurt a lot" was all that the royal managed to say.

"Right I should've warned you. Every time you enhance your senses it'll hurt for a second until you get used to it, and if you use it for too long it'll affect you temporarily-"

"Woah! I can see so clearly! It's like I have a lamp, except I do-" Suddenly Sila fell to her knees which immediately stopped Gale's explanation. "Hey! Are you ok? It shouldn't have affected you that quickly!-"

"Gale shut your mouth for two seconds!" Sila snapped as she covered her ears. "W-Why is everything so loud? Why can I hear the voices of people from that town so clearly? Bune, what the hell did you do?!" Sila's panicking combined with the fact all her senses were haywire wasn't a nice combination. Her eyes felt like they were burning and she could see many meters ahead clearly in the night, she was able to hear the townspeople's voices and conversations easily despite not being in the town, her nose was overwhelmed by how many scents she was able to smell, from biting her tongue the taste of blood was really strong, and even the feeling of the ground below her was overpowering on her sense of touch. Gale backed away from Sila but remained a bit close to her.

"It's alright. I swear you'll be fine, you just need to ride this out. This happened to every one of my hosts and they've all been fine" Gale wasn't speaking, instead, they were making Sila read their lips since any speaking would've hurt her ears. If Sila wasn't in pain she'd want to scream at Nightingale for not telling her that this would happen, and she would after this pain went away, but she doubted she would have the energy to yell so Gale will have to take a rain check.

After what felt like forever the pain in her senses calmed a little as Sila breathed heavily. At some point, Nightingale came closer and Sila was holding onto her for dear life. As the mercury magic user's senses were returning to normal she looked past Gale but her vision remained a little blurry. She saw a person a little farther from them. Even though they looked blurry she could make out that face anywhere even if it had been a year since she had last seen them. Before she realized it said person was walking towards her and Gale, and that was when she locked eyes with them spoke,

"..Solid onii-sama?..."