It was only later that afternoon when I met up with Scarlett again. I was still trying to process the implications of what I’d learnt. I was so preoccupied that I nearly bumped into her as I made my way down the palace passageway.

“Oh,” was all I managed to say. She responded in a similar fashion. Her expression seemed just as distracted as mine must have been.

“Listen, Scarlett,” I said, finally, when I’d gathered my thoughts. I continued to speak in a hushed voice. “It’s the Chaos Sickness. It’s here, in Babel. In Kur.”

She responded with a surprised look.

“Where have you been anyway? I went back to the hall where we left you and you were gone.”

“Oh, well er.” She scratched at the back of her head.

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter really.”

“Listen, Sander,” she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Can we talk?”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Trust her to make such a weird remark.

“Let’s go back to your room,” she said.

I nodded. Our rooms were conjoined, connected by a door that could be locked from either side. We walked in silence. When we arrived back in my room, she made herself comfortable, plopping down on my bed. I gave her a look before pulled up one of the wicker-basket seats from beside the window.

“I realised we hadn’t gotten a chance to talk about… well, you, yet.”

“Me?” I replied, confused.

“Don’t you find it strange? These powers you suddenly have.”

Thinking about it, the fact that I didn’t question them at all was rather concerning. It spoke ill of my current mental state. Normally I would definitely have wondered how I’d been possessed with such abilities and yet I hadn’t given it much thought at all.

“My nightmares have been getting more frequent,” I said.

Scarlett gave me a curious look. “Do you think they’re connected?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. They may be.”

“Might it not be inherent? Your eye colour is rather unusual after all…”

What was this girl implying?

“I’m human,” I said, plainly.

“I don’t doubt that, and yet, when you transform, you’re clearly not.”

“I –”

I had no response to that. My throat dried up like a non-perennial riverbed.

“Sander,” she said, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. “I hate to bring this up, but what do you remember about your daughter? The day she –”

“Nothing,” I said, instantly.

Scarlett seemed taken aback. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

I felt a pain in my forehead, and I grasped at it as though I were trying to reach inside. “It – comes and goes. It’s like I can see fragments of a broken mirror, but not the complete reflection.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I reminisced on my dream from the previous night.

“What happened to her?”

“I –”

– killed her. No, that was a nightmare, nothing more. I felt queasy. I shook my head wildly.

“Sander, try to remember.”

“I –”

I realised something then.

“It’s the same,” I said.

“The same as what?”

“That day. It’s the same as the fights with the sandman. The blanks in my memory.”

“You must have transformed.”

“I must have transformed.”

We spoke in unison, then looked at each other with grim expressions.

“What could have triggered that though?”

“I don’t know. But at least I’m one step closer to understanding now.”

“Hasn’t your sister said anything about the incident to you?”

I shook my head again. “No, she wasn’t there. She said that –”

I froze as the memory came back to me.

“Emilia was dead when she arrived. And I was unconscious.”

“Your wife was never around to see your daughter, right?”

I nodded. “There were complications during the birth.”

Scarlett didn’t pry any further.

“Listen, what’s more important right now is why we came here in the first place. The Chaos Sickness.”

“You say it’s made its way into Kur?”

I nodded.

“I-I don’t think we can do anything,” she said, frustration evident in her tone. “We don’t know if there’s a cure, or any kind of preventative measures either, which is why we need to find Alcandor. He’s the only person who might know something we don’t since he was already looking into it.”

“I wonder how useful meeting with this king will be, anyhow.”

“Hmm?”

“Well he’s clearly insane, or am I misreading the situation we saw yesterday?”

She thought for a moment. “Perhaps, but if he’s sane enough that New Athens is sending an emissary to speak with him, we must be able to get something out of him. Hopefully, information about Alcandor.”

“You trust Basil?”

“I don’t know if I’d use that word. He is here as a representative of a rival faction to mine, after all.”

“Say, what’s the history between you and Neptilia anyway? You don’t exactly seem like old friends.”

The Lunar Knight’s downcast look quickly turned to one of scorn. “She’s some bitch I was in the Academy with.”

“Training for knights?”

She nodded. “The training is overseen neutrally, and the grounds themselves are located outside the territory of any faction.”

Scarlett’s eyes seemed distant as she spoke, as though she were picturing the lunar landscape.

“It was very peaceful out there, amongst the forests of blue and white. At first, I missed New Sparta, but I grew to enjoy my time in training, for the most part.”

“Neptilia being one of those parts you enjoyed less?”

She frowned. I guess she really didn’t want to talk about that girl. Still, my curiosity was not quenched sufficiently yet.

“You got angry at something she said yesterday.”

“She angers me in general.”

“But there was something specific, I forget what, just now.”

Scarlett looked away from me. “I’d rather not.” She got to her feet and made for the interleading door.

I leaned back in my seat. “You know, it was painful, digging up those memories.”

She hesitated at the door. “It was recent,” was all she said, before going into her own room.

I heard the click of the lock as she shut the door behind her. I knew now that Neptilia had been taunting Scarlett over some past incident, but it seemed my companion was still troubled by it. I decided I wouldn’t bring it up again, for a while, at least.

I held out one hand and turned it over. It appeared perfectly human, no sign of the claws or fur from my nightmare. I let out a resigned sigh and got up to fetch the guest book from the small table opposite my bed. I rang up room service. Unlike our dealings with Leo, the palace’s services were all perfectly legal, so they accepted card-based transactions in any international currency. I ordered a burger and a bottle of vodka.