Mina laid her head to rest uneasily that night, her thoughts encumbered by the guilt of all that had happened recently, and of her own inability to do better. Her thoughts always circled back to that one crucial word from the battle with Dagon: "Verdant." Whenever her mind settled on that word for long, she could feel a great unease build within her chest, until the was snapped out of her drowsy lull of sleep and back to her senses. Mina was not one to struggle to sleep- no Yanu ever was- and so this insomnia was alien and frustrating to her. Mina attempted to relax, and consulted her stats. She was the type of person that preferred to hoard Experience until she absolutely had to use it, but she was finding that now, as she was unwillingly thrust into the center of a great ordeal with the Zailiens at its center, that would no longer be an option. Mina hastily applied her stat improvements, as though she were in some great danger if she did not. Her new stats are:

STR

6

DEX

19 (+3, -51 Experience)

VIT

20 (+2, -37 Experience)

INT

20 (+4, -70 Experience)

WIT

20 (+1, -19 Experience)

PER

13 (+1, -12 Experience)

CHA

8

LCK

11 (+1, -10 Experience)

Mina smiled to herself, floating in the resting pod of the Zailiens, as she applied the last improvement to her Luck. It could never hurt to have more Luck, she thought to herself. She smiled as the improvements to her abilities began to set into her body, and she drifted off to sleep.

Mina's dreams were always outlandish and memorable, so much so that she kept a secret dream journal she dared not tell anyone about. Tonight, however, her dreams would not be elaborate, aloof, and whimsical. They would be direct, and important.

Mina's vision cleared as she lay face-up in a pool of water. She hastily scrambled out of the pool, unsure of how she had gotten there as well as upset by what water always did to her fur. She took notice of a towel resting on a nearby changing screen, the type that was common in old Kagami, and leapt over to dry herself off. She noticed that she was nude, having apparently elected to take a bath, and quickly changed into the elegant Kagami robes- she believed they were called a yukata there- before stepping out of the room she found herself in.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Outside of the room, she discovered many large buildings in the typical Kagami style- walls made of wood, with thick pillars on each corner, topped by pyramid roofs that were tiled by black tiles. She counted a total of eight other buildings, with the one she had emerged from being the ninth. Each of these buildings was nestled among a wooded canyon, the size of the buildings and the canyon, as well as the distance between her and them, giving the illusion of a small community. Rope bridges connected each of the buildings to each other, crisscrossing throughout the ravine. Mina noted that the building she found herself at, which appeared to be the bathhouse, was connected only to one building, and so she elected to cross the lengthy rope bridge to her nearest building, and hope that what she would find there would illuminate some of her other questions about her surroundings.

As she entered the closest building, the locale changed entirely. From the natural beauty of Kagami, its lush forests and tropical climate, Mina was suddenly thrust into the smoggy and grimy interior of a Velstadt diner. The diner was small, seemingly a family-owned eatery, with a bar and booths. The dimly-lit overhead seemed to be due to the underpowered apparatuses that dangled from above, holding glass balls that seemed to provide weak light to her surroundings. How they managed this, she had no idea. Mina was completely alone in this diner, and lacking a better option sat herself at the bar.

"The bar?" a feminine voice called from behind her, where the booths were. "I had you pinned as more of a booth type, darling."

Mina turned around with a start, and was shocked to see a completely pale and nude woman, lacking any sexual characteristics, seated politely in a booth. She lacked eyes, hair, ears, or a nose, but possessed a mouth. Arranged around the woman's neck, like a wreath, was a ring of petals from a flower Mina could not recognize, even despite her Talent. The woman rose, gracefully strode over, and seated herself next to Mina at the bar.

"Just another way you've surprised me," the woman cooed.

"W-who are you?" Mina recoiled in her stool.

"Oh?" the woman cocked her head to the side, seemingly genuinely take aback by Mina's lack of knowledge. "Are you certain you don't know of me?"

"P-positive."

"Well, that is quite astonishing, I must say. Seeing as how we've known each other for quite some time, no?"

"Have we?" Mina nervously glanced towards the exit of the diner, unsure of where it would take her but knowing that it must be better than here.

"We most certainly have," the woman smiled. "But since you have forgotten my name, my only identity I may offer you is my title: The Fairest Lady."

"A bit prideful, no?" Mina chuckled, then remembered where she was.

"It's not a title I gave myself," the woman answered cryptically.

"Of course..." Mina glanced again at the exit. "Then, mind telling me how we know each other?"

"But you already know that, don't you?"

"Can't say I do..."

"Well, that's unfortunate." The woman rose, and paced over towards the exit. "You've forgotten my name, and our connection... I'd dare say you've lost, well, me." She stepped out the exit.

"Now, you must find me..." her voice echoed into the diner.

Mina stared at the exit blankly, unsure of whether to follow or to remain where she was. The woman was frightening in appearance, but her demeanor was far from it. In fact, Mina could not help but feel as though she was connecting with a friend for the first time in a long time. That frightened her more than anything. After everything she'd experienced over the past twenty-four hours, between Dagon, Novos and Remus, the Zailiens, and the word Verdant that had stuck in her head... Mina was beginning to worry something greater than she could comprehend had wormed itself into her head. Panic nearly began to set in as she considered every powerful spellcaster they'd come across recently, and the possibility that any of them had cast some sort of suggestion spell on her, possibly to gain her trust or to manipulate her, or possibly-

"Hey!" a gruff, masculine voice shouted from across the counter. Mina glanced over, and saw a tall, muscular Yanu man standing on the other side of the counter- with no head.

"H-hello?" Mina asked, further frightened by this man's presence.

"You gonna order something, or what?" the man asked as he slid her a menu, and Mina's worries instantly evaporated.