“Nymph is supposed to be here.” Phos brushed a lock of his glowing hair.

Kass blinked at Phos, confused to oblivion.

“You mean, here? In Nephele?” He tilted his head so much that it practically dug into the clouds at his feet, the words not getting through to his brain.

Phos flicked the lock of hair behind his back. How did he know Nymph would come to the Summit event? She’d told him long ago.

“I may have missed the Summit this year, but I’ll definitely go next year!”

“Why did you not go this year?”

“I stayed up reading the latest gossip from Ornis Efimeris then forgot to wake up on time to travel. I’ll show you the copy, look—”

“I’m good.”

“Oh. Well, next year, I’ll have a boyfriend as hot as this guy!”

Phos remembered hearing the crisp ruffling of pages, followed by Nymph shoving an image in his face.

He didn’t know it back then, as he forgot to read the heading or the caption of the picture, but it was an image of Kass.

“Light-bro? Light brooo—”

And the man in the picture stood right before him. What a small world.

With another sigh, Phos pinched the root of his nose.

“If what Ornis said is correct, then Nymph and Aer are sworn sisters.”

Kass nodded.

“Kass…” Phos brought his hands to his stomach, interlacing them. “Would you like to help me find Nymph? She can lead us to Aer.”

Kass glanced at the whistle around Phos’s neck. Why hadn’t he just used it to command him? Pyre would.

But then again, Phos… a helpful and kind Lord. What Ornis said about Phos, Kass had heard once too. When he first received an order from Pyre to torture the young Light Lord, he’d scrutinized the Fire Lord’s plan. Seeing Phos chained and unconscious had messed with Kass’s mentality for a long time.

With a deep breath, Kass nodded.

Phos frowned. Why did Kass look so conflicted? Had he said something wrong? No, impossible. Every word from Phos’s mouth held a degree of truth (or so he believed). Bringing his clasped hands down, Phos appeared rather demure.

“Then let’s go.” He started walking off in no direction in particular.

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Kass glanced at the Lord Ornis shuffling through various ornamental fan designs then back at Phos.

“What about Ornis—”

Phos had long disappeared into the clouds. Kass stared at Ornis for a while before gritting his teeth and running in Phos’s direction.

They arrived at a forest.

“The boundary between Nephele and Eos…?” Kass and Phos read the sign in unison.

“How did we end up back here?” Kass scratched his head. “And so quickly too….”

He looked back. The golden tower of Nephele’s Summit of the Lords had vanished into thin air.

“A teleportation spell? But that isn’t right… only the Time Lords have such an ability.”

“Time Lords?” Phos echoed, intrigued.

“Light-bro, I’m surprised you don’t know any. I’m sure you’ve heard of Chronos?” Kass grinned. “Or maybe even Kairos. They must be helping us out!”

“By… bringing us to the edge of the city..?” Phos deadpanned. “But why?”

Both of the Lords lowered their heads in contemplation.

“Maybe there’s a clue here.” Kass concluded, stamping his fist to his palm.

“Perhaps.” Phos agreed, nodding.

“This area is still considered a part of the Summit of the Lords event,” Kass continued, “but we shouldn’t leave Nephele if we want to go back. Light-bro, what do you want to do?”

Phos felt a nudge of surprise. Kass didn’t have a low IQ at all when it came to geography. Perhaps his existence as the Lord of Metal had its merits.

“If you stay and look around here, I’ll go back to Eos.” Tilting his head, Phos gestured towards the expanse of clouds behind Kass.

In the distance, several smaller Lords played in the wisps. Kass eyed them with a weary expression. But upon remembering his task of acting as Phos’s servant, Kass balled his fists and nodded.

“I’ll see you later then?” Kass wondered how they would find each other.

“Mhm, I’ll blow the whistle when I come back to Nephele.”

Kass’s confusion became insipidity. Of course, how could he have forgotten.

When the Lord of Metal woke from his trance, Phos had already crossed the border. A faint, shimmering light settled on the Lord’s body, acknowledging him as one of their own.

Phos lived in Eos, after all.

The difference between Nephele and Eos lay in their temperatures and atmospheres. As soon as Phos took one step into Eos, he felt his body torn between the frosty cold of Nephele and the baking warmth of his land. He stretched his hand out, and a golden ball of light lay docile on it.

In the distance, a waterfall of lava flowed like nectar. Phos realised his position on a mountain range—looking for Nymph here didn’t seem out-of-place at all. He spotted a cliff in the distance, enveloped by the orange Sun.

A figure stood by the cliff.

Phos tensed: What did Nymph think she was doing?? Standing that close to the ledge looked very dangerous, and no one knew better than Phos just how tipsy Nymph could get when she participated in large-scale social events.

Cautious, Phos walked towards the figure. His heels clacked on the rock-bedded ground, creating waves of sound with every step.

Maybe he should take them off, to not scare Nymph.

Lifting his feet, Phos slipped off the straps on his 4-inch heels and secured the shoes in his hands. As he progressed forward, his feet became numb to the various rocks pushing into his soles.

Closer.

Closer.

And he finally caught a glimpse of the figure’s hair. Blue and opaque, tipped frosted white, flickering like open flames.

“...”

“Pyre?!”

Startled, the man at the edge of the cliff stumbled, nearly losing his footing on the uneven rocks. Phos watched him almost trip into the lava, deadpanning. Because of Bios, Psuche, and Zoe’s control over this land, nothing natural could harm any Lords or Gods. Pyre would at most sustain light burns for a month.

But this didn’t mean Phos encouraged lava-diving. His arm shot towards the falling Lord of Fire, grabbing the puffy sleeve of his pitch-black trenchcoat and pulling the man towards himself.

Pyre, being taller than Phos at 6’3, easily toppled the little Light Lord. Both of them fell, Phos unfortunately at the bottom, smashing into the rocky earth of Eos’s cliffside.

Meanwhile, standing in the void of clouds called Nephele, Kass found a familiar face.