Kita and Raya spent the last moments of sunlight trekking within the corridor of the canyon, making their way back to the city. It's much further away than its glistening lights would suggest. They've decided to hunker down in a small cave, with a fire to keep them warm throughout the night.

Hiding out is a precaution in case the raiders are on their way back. Raiders like to move in the shadows, and Raya's blue hair stands out a little too much for them to stay exposed. Not to mention Vlad and a few of his other goons will probably recognise Kita as well.

One soul left. The invisibility spell worked like a charm. It's a good thing Kita left a few souls aside for it. Five souls is a heavy price for a spell that still leaves her vulnerable. If those raiders were any wiser, they would have fired blindly into the room- She can't discount someone doing that in the future. It's a good ability, but in the future, it needs to be used under the right circumstances.

"You have a completely different approach to combat now," Raya says, glaring at Kita with her soft, ocean eyes. Sitting by the fire with her legs crossed and back postured abnormally straight. "I like the more stealthy Kita,"

"I'm not so sure you could call that 'stealthy'," Kita responds.

Raya chuckles, "I haven't seen you use this set of spells,"

"What spells did I use in the past?"

Raya's eyes widen as she reflects, "Lots of fire,"

"Oh. I hadn't even thought about fire,"

"You would often cast a flame without it travelling the distance in between. Your targets would simply combust,"

"Woah," Kita pauses- That's pretty badass. However, Kita doesn't find that very practical. Surely that would come at a hefty cost. "How many souls would that need?"

"I don't know the exact number. But, you had a baseline that would never fall below two hundred souls,"

"Two hundred?!" Kita chokes on her surprise. That's… A lot. It would take forever to consume that many souls.

"Your magic requires quite the toll… Well, that's what I used to think. When you told me you only had nine souls, I was certain we were going to die," Raya giggles under her breath.

The baseline. It sounds familiar to Kita. There's a reason for it beyond fire or spells. In her past lives, she would never drop below two hundred spells, because…

"Why would I have set the baseline at two hundred souls?" Kita asks anxiously, trying to satisfy an itch in her memory.

"You'd need it to reincarnate," Raya responds.

That's right… In the cell, Kita's body naturally healed itself. Does the same apply if she's dead? That would mean a lot of souls would be needed depending on the severity of her death. It's clearer to her now. In her past lives, the first thing she would do is consume to her baseline. Two hundred souls. The power she must feel with that many souls would explain the ego she'd have had in past lives. Killing would become so easy.

Who could stop me from taking whatever I want?

She ought to get that tattooed on her because that memory might not have returned without Raya. Does that mean that she can die? Or will she just, 'not' heal? It's best not to find out. She can die once she gets her soul back.

"I see," Kita says. "So I would need far more than two hundred to beat him?"

"The dark one? Yes, your current state would have you killed before you look, him, in the eyes,"

"So I need to get two hundred souls," Kita nods to herself, trusting in the knowledge of her past self. This is quite the mountain to climb considering she only has one soul left.

But the climb excites her.

More than it should, and she knows it. That number- Two hundred souls. It would be ecstasy. She closes her eyes and reminisces on the tingling feeling that spread throughout her body when she had thirteen. She couldn't appreciate it as much in the moment, but next time she wants to make sure she concentrates on it as it expands within her.

She almost moans, but quickly covers it up with a cough before she asks, "What else can you tell me about the dark one?"

"The dark one has beaten you, every time."

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"You mean us!" Kita gets defensive.

"You have come close before. Only once, but the dark one played a trick on your mind before you could kill him,"

"What trick?"

"He showed you a memory," Raya raises the palms of her hands towards the crackling glow. "I am not aware of what the memory may have been. But I know it was a memory of your old life,"

"My old life?"

"The life you had before your soul was… Stolen,"

Kita hadn't even considered the life she had before her soul was stolen. Is that way she wants her soul back? To return to her normal life? At this point, she isn't even sure why she wants her soul back so badly. She just feels the uncontrollable need to get it back. She can always notice a void deep within her when the thought of her soul crosses her mind. There's no way she could live a normal life with this feeling.

"I've no memories of a life before my soul was stolen,"

"You've had dreams in the past. Of people and places unfamiliar to me," Raya says.

"Hmm," Kita sighs at the nothingness of her memories. "I don't know who my parents are."

"You're quite the mystery, Kita. I've known you for thousands of rotations and I still know little about you,"

"Why stay by my side for so long?"

"Because we're friends," Raya smiles.

"Then tell me, friend- What exactly are you the princess of?"

"I was the princess of an underground nation called Casiim," Raya announces with pride. "It was always a strong nation. It took over eighty thousand rotations to build. Our ancestors found a cave entrance that led to a cavern underground. Slowly, it grew from a few hundred citizens to over three hundred thousand. It had plenty of space. Enough food and water to go around… We were a happy people,"

"I was the first heir to the throne before it was destroyed,"

"Destroyed? By who?" Kita asks.

"The dark one," Raya looks into Kita's with a swell of tears building up in them. "He demanded we sacrifice the bodies of our people to him. We refused. We believed we would be able to protect our people from whatever threat he may have possessed… But,"

"He came and took them anyway," Kita finishes for her.

"He caved the city in… I don't know of anyone else who survived,"

"How did you survive?"

"You saved me," Raya smiles.

"Seriously?"

"Yes,"

"How long ago was this?" Kita asks.

"Over ten thousand rotations ago,"

"Huh?" Kita squints at Raya. "How old are you?"

Raya chuckles to herself, "When you saved me, you placed a thousand souls into my body,"

"A thousand souls! So you can cast spells too?"

"No, I cannot. The souls only heal my body after it's been harmed," She raises her knife to the palm of her hand. "It's more of a healing spell that you placed on me,"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I told you I wanted to kill the dark one. If I hadn't told you that, I'm quite sure you would have consumed my soul," Raya chuckles, cutting across the length of her palm as red spills out.

"So you want revenge, huh?"

"Something like that,"

"And the souls I gave have kept you young, then?"

"I presume so," Raya responds, glancing at the palm of her hand as the wound quickly zips up. Appearing as if it was never there to begin with. "I only have half of them left,"

"Need a top-up?" Kita chuckles.

"I'd rather not. I'm unsure of where you got these ones from to begin with. You've never cared much for the people whose souls you take, so I'd prefer you didn't kill the innocent to keep me alive,"

"So, where is the dark one?" Kita asks.

"To be honest, I have no idea,"

"Huh? You said you knew where he was!"

"I lied," Ray shrugs, "I could tell you didn't recognize me, so I said what I had to,"

"Not very royal of you to lie," Kita chuckles. "How did you end up there anyway?"

"I've been held prisoner by various wealthy people. Most of them would treat me like an ornament, and parade me to their friends as an ancient princess that they own. Once they got bored, they'd sell me to the next wealthy family,"

"Everyone here answers simple questions with depressing ass stories," Kita mumbles under her breath.

"What?" Raya squints.

"That's awful, I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Kita scoffs.

Raya giggles, "Your lack of empathy is needed. I prefer not to feel sorry for myself,"

"Thank god. Because I wasn't about to feel sorry for you," Kita laughs. "Why didn't you just leave?"

"Honestly? I had nothing better to do. I may have been a slave but I was coveted. They treated me like royalty so that I still appeared as a Princess,"

"Sounds like a pretty good deal," Kita comments.

"It was for a while. I got taken by the raiders when I did something I shouldn't have,"

"What'd you do?"

"I killed my owner," Raya responds.