Nyx's slim, white fingers flowed through her long, silky hair as she washed at the edge of a stream, at the centre of a natural clearing, while releasing a loud, exhausted yawn despite being drenched with cold water.

Shaking her head in an attempt to keep her mind alert, Nyx subconscious attempted to work out how long it had been since she had slept properly.

Her journey to the small town had started a few months earlier, hundreds of miles away, after discovering information about the man who strangely feared the darkness.

As the risk of infiltrating a large sect, especially now she only had one life, was so high, Nyx was forced to rush and try and use the sect's recruitment process to gather more information forcing her to travel without much rest or sleep.

This, coupled with the facts that she had become mostly nocturnal, moving around in the light causing her energy expenditure to increase drastically, and had been forced to use every trick and ability she had to evade the woman called Dimi during what remained of the previous day after meeting Timur, had left Nyx feeling utterly exhausted.

"And it's not like anything will change any time soon," grumbled Nyx as she splashed water onto her body, shivering slightly, knowing that the immediate future would be both physically and mentally exhausting. "Nothing is ever easy."

Lifting her left arm so she could smell her armpit, Nyx sighed knowing that she was only reducing her traceable footprint and, without the help of special abilities, skills or consumables, she would not be able to completely conceal herself from high realm expert trackers or predatory beasts.

Nyx chuckled, rewashing her armpit. "I guess I have got lazy. Playing with low-level cultivators and mortals, while refreshing, has made me forget that these tactics won't work well against those at the top let alone when I ascend to the higher continents."

As her naked body glistened with water in the gentle sunlight, her skin turning slightly red due to the prolonged exposure and irritation the light caused, Nyx couldn't help but release another sigh as she looked around the clearing with a sophisticated, somewhat reluctant look. "Ten years..."

While she hadn't been to this part of the forest before, after so much time had passed, the familiar landscape had started to feel like a home away from home. It had been a struggle at the start, but as soon as she found her feet, she had thrived and, against her expectations, had started to enjoy life.

Free, unrestrained and mostly left to her own thoughts and devices. It was a heaven for her weary soul. A place where she had finally started to live and enjoy the small details instead of just going through the throws.

Without thinking about the action as it had become second nature, Nyx released a small pulse of dark essence, removing the hair from her legs, armpits and area below her navel as well as cleaning her teeth and eliminating harmful bacteria.

After washing for a bit longer, knowing that she couldn't keep delaying, Nyx finally stood up and pushed essence out of her body with explosive force.

The water that had been dripping from her body flew away from her skin and hair, drying almost instantly as she started before moving towards the bundled leather armour that Timur had given her.

Next to the package lay the armour she had gathered over time, mostly through murder, mismatched in both colour and sizes.

"Speed and stealth or defence and robustness?" Nyx put her weight on one leg, letting her body lean slightly to one side with a hand on her hip as she compared the two sets creating a striking scene in the mid-morning light.

"I managed to dodge that lioness during the day with my current abilities, though that was mainly thanks to the terrain of the forest. She should be one of the faster opponents on this continent and stealth becomes somewhat mitigated due to the change in my environment so I should probably go for the new set."

However, against her own words and thoughts, after binding her chest with worn bandages and putting on the small short-like pants, Nyx reached out and started putting on her old equipment.

"Defence is useful if you get hit, healing is good if your defence fails and you are injured, but by far the best option is not require healing or that level of protection in the first place."

After equipping her old armour and wearing the dark grey robe, Nyx looked around the clearing one more time before picking up the small bag that contained all of her worldly possessions and walked into the forest.

Moving without making much sound, seemingly at home amongst the trees and vegetation, Nyx slowly made her way as thoughts of staying in the forest, abandoning her personal quests and living a peaceful life, tempted her to turn around and vanish into the undergrowth.

It wasn't long, at least to Nyx who was used to moving enormous distances, before she could hear the slow flowing river that marked the edge of the forest and boundary between the Welshmar Kingdom and the Twilight sect's territory.

With precision that would leave any hunter green with envy, she had arrived at the exact same spot she had been standing the previous day.

The song Nyx had sung when she first entered the forest, having resolved to change her impulsive, almost suicidal habits so that she could achieve her goals, floated to the top of her mind, causing her to smile warmly and banish the last lingering doubts.

At the same time, it caused her to compare her past and present self.

"I'm not an incredibly smart person, nor does impulse completely rule me, but at the same time, it's in my nature to be extreme. I see everything as black or white, but in the case of my behaviour, I feel I need to find balance."

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Closing her tired eyes for a moment, the temptation to keep them shut almost overwhelming, Nyx licked her lips and clenched her fists. "Whatever, I can only be myself. Isn't this just overthinking things?"

"I am who I am, no more, no less. As long as I learn from my mistakes, and don't repeat them unnecessarily, I will always be able to improve and adapt."

As the word's left Nyx's mouth, a sense of peace and confidence washed over her, causing her emotions, which had been turbulent since hearing about the potential lead to her soul stone, to settle.

However, in the next moment, Nyx revealed a shocked expression as she felt the beastial energy that encircled her heart becoming less defined and tyrannical, starting to merge somewhat with the surrounding essence and flesh in a natural, symbiotic way.

Nyx stopped, shock visible on her face as her wide, blue eyes flickered intensely before she couldn't help but start laughing.

It had been a passing thought, generated from how she had played into her opponent's hands the day before yet, it had enabled her to start weakening the bottleneck that had constrained her cultivation for so long.

"Adversity and reflection really do make the best companions." Taking a deep breath, Nyx carried on, the slight hesitation and lethargy in her steps vanishing without a trace as she started to hum a cheery tune as her head bobbed to the sides lazily.

Seeing the break in the treeline just up ahead, Nyx expressions vanished, stopping in her tracks as she turned her head to the right and stared at a large tree.

"As expected of the girl who was able to escape me," chuckled Dimi, her white robe stained with the smear of leaves and dirt. "Though it is strange you can sense my presence here, but it took you a long time to in the crowd, yesterday."

Just as she was trying to analyse Nyx's skill, wondering what category it fell into, Dimi froze on the spot as her eyes locked with Nyx's.

This was the first time she had seen them and, unlike Timur who had been able to recover quickly, Dimi found her self staring absentmindedly.

Nyx's eyes were crystal clear, with flickers of lighter blue amongst a dark blue backdrop, seemingly like a raging storm yet at the same time, like the ripples from a calm ocean.

A sense of awe, along with a hint of fear entered Dimi's mind, her instincts screaming that the beast before her, while young and weak at the moment, would grow so much that she wouldn't be able to compete with if given enough time.

The desire to kill flashed across Dimi's eyes, wanting to eliminate the competition but at the same time, reason and the experience from chasing Nyx the previous day told her it wouldn't be so easy.

Not only that, but there was a slight amount of excitement knowing that Nyx was the personal disciple of Timur, her sisters mate, and so, through her own, slightly warped logic, a potential pride member.

This hesitation was long enough for a reason to fully return to Dimi and she could only shake her head and smile, internally berating herself for having such an extreme, instinctual reaction. "My name is..."

"Dimi," interrupted Nyx in an emotionless voice before she started walking again, seemingly shunning the woman.

While she hadn't directly harmed Nyx, the fact that Dimi had played a significant role in manipulating her, caused Nyx to feel a certain amount of resentment and thus, coupled with her already prickly nature in interacting with others, caused her to give off a hostile vibe.

Seeing this, a range of emotions flittered across Dimi's face before settling between annoyance, curiosity and playfulness as she followed, eventually chuckling and speeding up.

Due to the difference in height, Dimi being much taller than Nyx, she quickly caught up and, as if they had been taking a stroll together, they walked side by side out of the forest and into the blazing sunlight.

They quickly reached the river side by side and elegantly lept across, both utilising skills to traverse the gap, and started moving towards the line of carriages that were already packed and waiting on the road a few hundred meters away.

Small groups of people, much smaller than yesterday, clustered around as the sound of joy, and sorrow, carried on the wind.

"Are you really a transcendent soul?" asked Dimi, her beast nature not really caring if her words were appropriate or not, as they reached the halfway point.

"I was," responded Nyx plainly, apparently not going to elaborate.

"Was?" After frowning for a moment, Dimi moved a little further ahead so that she could see Nyx's face. "So what are you then?"

However, as if replaying the earlier scene, the moment their eyes met, Dimi froze.

This time instead of being entranced, a cold sweat almost instantly appeared on her back as the hair's on her arms and head stood on end.

After releasing a subconscious low, threatening hiss-like sound, Dimi took large steps to the side, distancing herself from Nyx. The sense of danger, as if she were a kitten in front of a wolf, rippled through her heart.

Yet, as if she hadn't noticed Dimi's strange behaviour, Nyx continued walking without pause quickly leaving her behind.

"What am I?" After a few steps, Nyx broke the silence enabling Dimi to recover her senses and start to follow, this time a little behind and to the side, the positioning making it clear that she wasn't looking down on Nyx as much as she had been earlier.

The question had tormented Nyx in the early years, their identity the most important thing to a soul from the abyss.

However, by chance, after sitting atop an ancient tree on a moonless, still night, she discovered the answer. One that had been right in front of her the entire time. "I'm Nyx."

"That's a name, not a species," said Dimi, her earlier flamboyant attitude being slightly subdued by the intense feeling that had washed over her a few moments ago.

Nyx chuckled as she pulled the black blindfold out of her robe pocket and put it on. "It is both. I am darkness, a daughter of the goddess of Night and a denizen of the abyss. A being that transcends flesh and blood. An existence that, while bound by this plane's laws, also sits outside of them. No matter what form I take, I am, and will always be Nyx."

Above, thunder resounded in the clear, blue sky, drawing everyone's attention and revealing that someone was bordering on breaking the world's natural laws.

At the rumbling sound above, Dimi's bronzed skin paled significantly, however in front, her face hidden due to their positions, Nyx's appearance didn't look much better.

Her soul was still too powerful for her current body, and the two soul attacks she had used on Dimi had caused her significant internal damage.

However, even though she was in pain, Nyx couldn't help but smile, thinking that old habits really died hard.

She had purposefully said enough to get a warning from nature's laws to make the entire conversation, which she was sure would reach Timur's ears, seem like a truth ordained by the heavens.

"I am the first and last of my kind." Nyx's words were so quiet that Dimi almost missed them, combined with a strong tint of loneliness and acceptance. Acceptance that her soul had been fused to her current body and that she may never reach the abyss again.

Thunder once again rumbled above, slightly confusing Nyx as she had made the statement on a whim, not really sure of its validity.

Not knowing what part, or if it was both, of her comment was right, Nyx's emotions turned dark as the lonely feeling in her heart increased slightly knowing that believing something was far different than having it confirmed.

However, just as her facade was about to crack, her mask having weakened over ten years of neglect and disuse, Nyx felt the dark essence under her robe, out of her control, wrap around her warmly, as if trying to comfort her.

Nyx smiled, not knowing why her energy was acting so but wanting to believe it was the voice, accompanied by such darkness that it made Nyx's look like vague smoke, that she had heard in the grey abyss. The one that had claimed to adopt her as one of its own.

As if confirming her thoughts, though she knew it could just be coincidence or her subconscious acting on its own, the essence gave her body a light, encouraging squeeze before returning to her control.