Transformed into a white beam of light, Athalia’s new form landed on the ruins of a platform. She regained her humanoid form just as she made contact with it, but with all the momentum of a shooting star behind her, she crashed right through it and bounced against the ground. It took a few long bounces for her to steady herself, but during her time floating between impacts she noticed a few peculiar things about her location. The whole place was low-gravity, the ground she landed on was gray and dusty, and the sky was pitch black. The final bounce plopped her belly-up on the ground with a few scrapes. With her body still sore from the fall, Athalia stayed there for a few seconds to recover. Taking a deep breath, she noticed the lingering scent of incense on her body. She couldn't help but wonder if she’d been played by Joanne. Would sending her this way without warning her of the crashing hazard constitute willfully harming her? While Athalia contemplated her choice to trust the priestess, a few notification appeared in front of her.

《 You survived your first fall. Vitality increased by 1 》

《 You have entered the Moonlit Domain - Wolfsbane Garden 》

《 You have answered the Domain's invitation. Requirements for personal skill: [Silver Genealogy Lv. 1] have been met. Personal skill has been awakened. 》

The notifications disappeared on their own after she read them. She had no clue what half of those things really meant, so she made a mental note to ask the Fair Lady once she found her.

Athalia got up and dusted herself. It looked as though she’d landed on a gray desert that stretched out as far as she could see. Stone ruins were scattered all throughout, a collection of raised foundations, lonesome pillars, and collapsed archways. She looked up at the sky behind her, hoping to see where she’d fallen from. The only bodies floating in that side of the dark sky were a large colorful planet and a larger ringed gray planet with two small moons. Athalia found herself mesmerized by those stellar sights, standing all alone on that dusty moon. But it was only for a moment - she heard a noise resonate around her, first as an array of alien chords. She covered her ears from the painfully sharp notes. A notification appeared in front of her that made her heart sink.

《 You have been exposed to raw astral energies. Leave this area or you will be assimilated into the cosmos. Time before full assimilation - 1:00 》

《 Your astral body has been reinforced by [Silver Genealogy]. Time before full assimilation - 5:00 》

If that notification meant what she thought it meant, she had to get out of there fast. But where could she even go? the world around her seemed so desolated. Just as hopelessness was starting to sink in, and her head felt like it’d split in half, the alien pitches converged into a melancholic lullaby. It was, oddly enough, one she could almost sing along to. But she couldn't place the lyrics. She tried to think back, and it was all just a big, long blank.

There was something deeply unsettling about that to her; to have an empty hole in her mind for all these things her spirit seemed to remember. Athalia took a deep breath of the incense that still surrounded her. She had to focus, now was not the time to despair. And even if she was going to die here, then dammit, she’d at least try her damndest to get the answers she came here for. And that started with finding the source of this lullaby.

Athalia looked around, yelling for help, trying her best to locate the source of the voice. She climbed the tallest, most stable-looking ruin she could find nearby and yelled out at the horizon in search for the singer, whoever she was. How Athalia knew it was a she, despite the ambiguous tone of the singer, she couldn’t say. She scanned the area around the structure; no signs of life around her. She wondered if perhaps the singer was in a similar situation as her.

“She wouldn’t be singing if she was, right? so it has to be safe wherever she is. She can’t be that far away if I can hear her so clearly.” Athalia thought to herself.

A minute of searching passed by and she began feeling her skin tingle. Flecks of white energy began dissipating off her brass skin, leaving behind glowing white specks. They weren’t painful or uncomfortable, but who was to say that would continue to be the case? Athalia became more desperate to find her - she jumped frantically from ruin to ruin, making use of the low gravity to cover more ground. No matter where she went, the song remained at a consistent volume. A couple minutes were spent this way, jumping around calling out to the singer. The more she heard the singer the more she was sure that she knew her voice. Athalia felt that pull in her chest flare up aggressively every time she heard her high notes. The more time passed, however, the more of her skin was covered by these white specks. With 2 minutes left, her extremities were completely covered, and she could see the specks trailing behind her as she jumped. Amidst her frantic search, she bent down and jumped with all her might to see more of her surroundings. Soaring up into the sky she could see it all so clearly - this land, wherever it was, was utterly barren. Covered in ruins, with no signs of life, it really was nothing but dull, gray wasteland. At the peak of her ascent, she screeched out to the void as a final hail mary to avoid whatever fate awaited her at the other side of assimilation.

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She fell back towards the moon with more speed than she anticipated, so the ground was approaching fast. Athalia landed feet-first on the edge of a two-story pillar before she accidentally pushed a loose brick, causing the whole pillar to collapse towards her. She closed her eyes to brace for impact, but instead of hitting dusty ground and getting buried, she felt warmth catch her. She hadn’t realized how cold it was out there until now. When she opened her eyes, an otherworldly woman held her close in a bridal carry. She had skin like marble and long braided silver hair. They held each other’s gazes for a few seconds, Athalia’s black eyes locked with the woman’s three silver eyes, and she felt that yearning in her chest peak. The world around her became a whirl of neon lights for a few seconds, though she barely noticed the change.

“Welcome home, Tali.” Said the ethereal woman in an echo-y voice.

Athalia heard the familiar nickname and choked up. She knew this woman, that she was sure of. She knew her features, her voice, her laughter, and yet-

“Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense, I just- I don’t remember your name but I think you meant a lot to me.” Athalia replied, flustered by the feelings in her chest.

“I would certainly hope so,” said the woman before gently placing Athalia down on a silver chair, “I didn’t choose just anyone to be my disciple.”

“Disciple?”

“Oh yes. Pleasure to meet you again, Athalia. I’m Lu’nalu, Goddess of Moonlight. You might know me as The Fair Lady.“

“T-the pleasure is all mine.“

Athalia had no clue where the puffy lounge chair she was now on had come from. She looked at her own skin, still marked by white flecks, and then around herself at her surroundings. Athalia was now in a white room with two lounge chairs placed on either side of a gray stone table. The woman sat up in the chair opposite Athalia. Seeing her disciple’s expression as she rubbed the white specks on her skin, Lu'nalu spoke up.

“Don't worry, the marks will go away on their own, your astral body just needs time to recover. Thank your lucky stars you lasted as long as you did out there.”

“It really felt like a miracle that I survived. How did you know I was there?” Asked Athalia while rubbing the side of her body she first landed on. Curiously, she felt no pain there.

“Oh, I knew the moment you arrived. I didn’t believe it at first - you were on the opposite side of the moon! That’s the first time someone has spawned somewhere outside of this room. I flew there as fast as I could. Honestly I’m just glad you’re ok.”

“Oh! What about the woman who was singing, is she ok?”

“What woman?”

“Y-you couldn’t hear her? but she was so loud.”

Lu’nalu raised an eyebrow at that, but hearing the genuine worry in her voice, she felt the need to reassure her.

“I can promise you as the master of this domain, you and I are the only ones inside it right now.“

“T-then what did I…?“

“What indeed…“ said the Goddess as she crossed her legs and strummed her fingers on her thighs.

With Lu’nalu deep in thought, Athalia got a chance to give her supposed master a closer look. To call her marvelous would be an understatement. It wasn’t just because her skin resembled dark marble, silver veins and all; she had a radiance about her that drew you in. Even her clothing was out of this world - She wore a white hanfu with prismatic edges and cuffs. A shawl floated around her like clouds on a mountaintop, covering her otherwise open and plunging neckline.

Athalia watched as Lu'nalu snapped her fingers and a series of screens appeared in front of her. The Goddess studied them for a moment and frowned.

“This is… unprecedented, to say the least.” said Lu’nalu before snapping her fingers again to dismiss the screens.

“I might have an answer for you, my dear student. Before that though,” said Lu'nalu, “would you care for some tea? We might be here a while.”