Aurora failed to wake Nova up. That was embarrassing. She was sure she had done it right. She touched Nova's chest, approximately where her heart is, and then summoned her light magic to it. Her magic was working normally. Light came from her hand, and she felt the warmth. But nothing happened. Nova was still unconscious.

She tried again several times, but still, nothing happened. Her magic didn't have any effect. That confused her. Maybe the problem was not in her heart? Aurora then tried the same thing on Nova's head, but it was the same. Nothing happened. Even as a last resort, Aurora decided to use her light magic on Nova's entire body, but it was all meaningless. Her magic had no effect.

In the end, she could only admit defeat and tell the prince, who was staring at her full of hope, that she couldn't do it. The disappointed expression on Casper's face felt like physical damage to her. But nothing else could be done. She apologized and left the room.

In the empty corridors, she stared at her own hand. "Why isn't it working?" Aurora wondered.

"Because I put myself in that condition on purpose, stupid," Nova said.

Aurora jumped in surprise, looking around. She was sure she had just heard Nova's voice, yet there was nobody around.

"What...?" Aurora said in confusion.

Nova laughed. "You won't find me like that. I'm not talking to you using a physical body."

Aurora gulped. Again. She didn't hear wrong, Nova did talk to her. But not using a physical body, she said? So... she was inside her head or something?

"What's going on...?" Aurora asked. "How can you talk to me like this? Are you a ghost...?"

"You wish," Nova snorted. "Obviously I'm not dead yet. That time near the pond, I found out that the plan wasn't working. The monster got defeated, the second prince failed, James lost to Finnick, nothing was working out. So I decided to make myself unconscious."

"Why...?" Aurora asked.

"They won't execute me if I'm unconscious, right?" Nova said.

Well, that's true, Aurora thought to herself. That's pretty cunning of her. But then again, that's actually mean...

"So you're running away," Aurora said.

"Yes," Nova said, irritated. "What? Want to mock me?"

"Not really," Aurora said. She felt like teasing her a little, but that might not be a good idea to do with someone who's not your friend. So instead, Aurora asked, "But why can you talk to me like this?"

"When I stabbed you," Nova said, "I injected my darkness magic into you. It's mostly disappeared now that you're cleansing it using your light magic. But not completely. I'm using the remaining darkness inside your heart to make this connection. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Yeah, except for the part where you stab me," Aurora said.

"That part's pretty neat too for me," Nova said.

"Good for you," Aurora said, a little annoyed. "So why are you doing this? What do you want from me?"

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"Let's talk," Nova said.

"Huh? So now you feel like talking, now that you can't use your body?" Aurora said.

"Yes," Nova said. "Problem?"

"Not really," Aurora said. If Nova didn't resort to violence first, she wouldn't either.

"Then let's talk," Nova said.

"Okay."

Aurora had a lot of questions herself, so she didn't mind either way.

"First," Nova said. "You're not really Aurora, are you?"

Aurora was a little stunned by that question, but she managed to stay calm and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"No need to pretend," Nova continued. "I can tell."

Aurora snorted, "Yeah, right. We're not even friends, and yet you act as if you know me well."

"If we were friends, I would act like the others," Nova said. "Thinking that you just changed and moved on. But I'm more than that. I know how you acted in another timeline. You and the Aurora I know are different. You can't be the same person."

"Is that so?" Aurora said. "Like how?"

"Aurora I know was the type that acted weak, making people around her want to protect her. But not you," Nova explained. "From the beginning, you handled things on your own. When I pushed you, you pushed me back."

"Well, thank you," Aurora said.

"I'm not complimenting you," Nova said. "I'm just saying!"

"Okay," Aurora said, smiling. "If I'm not the real Aurora, does that mean we're not enemies anymore?"

"So, you're really a completely different person?" Nova asked. "I figured that if regressing was possible, something like this was possible too."

"Maybe," Aurora said. While the possibility of not having to deal with Nova anymore was great, she wasn't really sure if she could tell her the truth. Even though Nova clearly believing that she wasn't the real Aurora.

"Answer properly!" Nova complained.

"What about yourself, then?" Aurora asked. "Are you going to tell me why you do what you do properly this time? That revenge thing was a little silly."

"What's wrong with that? I do want revenge," Nova said.

"Fine," Aurora said, "but what's up with allying yourself with the second prince? It just feels unnecessary."

Nova sighed. "This is going to be hard to explain, but this is what I want to talk to you about."

"Okay," Aurora said, intrigued. "I'm listening."

"Let's see. Do you know the magic I use to trap you inside a dream?" Nova asked.

The cheat? Aurora thought.

"You mean Endless Nightmare?" Aurora said.

"So you even know the name," Nova said. "Well, I figured as much considering you can use ancient magic too."

Aurora blinked. "Ancient magic? What's that?"

"That speed of yours, that's ancient magic, right?" Nova said.

Huh. So the cheat code was considered ancient magic in this world?

Aurora had considered that Nova might also be a transmigrator because she could use the cheat code, but that might not be true if ancient magic existed.

"I don't know," Aurora said. "I know it was unusual magic at least, but it's the first time I've heard of ancient magic."

"To be fair, I don't know much about it either," Nova said. "I just found it in the old tomb of my ancestors and decided to learn it."

"Okay," Aurora said. "So what then?"

"Well, you get how it works, I guess?" Nova said. "When I used it, it shows you nightmares. After I learned it, I figured I should test it out myself to see how effective it is."

"Huh? I was kinda expecting you to use other people as test subjects, not doing it yourself."

"I did eventually," Nova said. "Like when I used it on James once. But that's not the point. What do you think a nightmare is?"

Aurora wasn't quite sure what Nova was trying to say, but she followed along for now.

"Uh... A bad dream? Scary stuff?"

"Yeah, but the scariest ones are the ones that are actually possible," Nova said. "So I saw this nightmare where I successfully got rid of you and got everything I wanted, but my happiness was short-lived. Something big was happening to this world, outside of our little conflict, and no matter what I did, I couldn't stop it. In the end, everyone was dead."

"Well, that sounds like generic nightmares. Everyone dies. The end," Aurora said.

"I thought the same too, until I checked all the things that were happening in that dream. Every little hint, every little detail. It turned out a nightmare can be a prediction for the future too."

Aurora gulped. She wasn't really sure about this talk, but Nova's voice sounded genuine.

"Okay, so you can predict the future, cool. But what does that have to do with the second prince?" Aurora asked.

"Casper can't handle such a problem," Nova explained. "Neither can the current king. They're just... too nice. You know what I mean? Even if they know something bad is going to happen, they won't be willing to make sacrifices. But it's different with the second prince. He is ambitious. And even if he becomes king, he won't be satisfied. I believe he will eventually attack neighboring kingdoms."

"That sounds just like he's going to be a bad king," Aurora said, not understanding where this conversation was going.

"In a normal situation, yes," Nova said. "But the fact that he will put a lot of focus and effort on the military will give us a better chance for survival when the attack from that... thing happens. In fact, when I made a deal with him, I made him promise to double down on that and raise taxes if necessary. He happily agreed."

"What...?" Aurora said, feeling lost. "So you're saying that what you have been doing was to prepare for war with this... thing? To survive future massacres?"

"Yes," Nova said, sounding tired. "That's what I'm trying to say. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I want to save the kingdom and become a hero or something. But I definitely want to survive, especially after dying once. That's not hard to understand, is it?"

Aurora still wasn't sure if she could believe what Nova was saying, but her reasoning was more logical than when she said she wanted simple revenge. Assuming her nightmare was really a prediction of the future, of course.

And then Aurora arrived at the question she had been wondering from the beginning.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" she asked.

"Well, you're ruining my plan," Nova said. "Whatever happens in the future, it's your responsibility now."

"Hey!" protested Aurora.

Nova laughed for the last time, and her voice then disappeared.

***