Dave pondered the words of the potential ghost of the princess of Shandria.

“What do you think, Sherlock?” He mentally asked the heart of his Wisdom.

The violin responded with a song he recognized.

“If you’re really her,” he said. “Then there’s a way to test it.”

“Do tell,” Cedez smiled.

“I want you to sing for me,” Dave said.

“Oh? Which tune would you like me to sing?"

“The same song Stellaris sang in the bar to me.”

"Can do," Cedez nodded.

The inverted halo above her head flickered and vanished from existence, the sounds of the cafe flooding back in. She ran towards the metal stairwell and vanished upstairs with a swish of black tail. In another moment, she slid back down across the railing, a dark violin-guitar in hand.

Her gloved fingers struck the strings, carrying the music across the cafe. Then she opened her mouth.

“I heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord..."

Her voice joined the music, rushing like a spring brook, capturing the attention of every adventurer at the cafe. Dave and Sherlock listened. Every word, every intonation, every chord was exactly the same as yesterday.

“Maybe there's a God above

But all I've ever learned from love

Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you...”

The song was perfect like before, captured Dave’s soul in its orbit, danced across the cafe across every sunlight beam, bounced off the pearlescent shell of the giant snail and echoed towards the Adventurers Gate, making the helmeted guards within smile.

“It's not a cry that you hear at night

It's not someone who's seen the light...”

Dave’s lips whispered the chorus along with Cedez. He knew this song far too well.

In another minute, she concluded and sat down across from Dave with a flourish to the applause and whistles of the gathered adventurers.

“Satisfied?” She asked, her dark halo returning, cutting off the sound of their cheering.

"Yes." He nodded. "You're either ridiculously good at copying each other's singing or you're actually the same person. There is a difference between you though... a variance in your desires, unless you are lying to me. Why is that?"

"I'll entertain you with another theory," Cedez offered. "We're like... fragments. Shards of a broken mirror, each reflecting a different aspect of the original princess. I represent her desires for companionship and freedom. Stellaris..." She glanced at the bag. "She embodies Natalie's thirst for power over others."

"So, what you're saying is, you're both incomplete?"

"Maybe," Cedez shrugged.

"You want me to try to put you back together or something?" Dave asked.

"Uhm," Cedez frowned. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. I... like being me. I don't want to be more like her, don't want to own you. Unlike her, I actually had a pretty good grandfather."

She glanced in the direction of Murdoc.

"Let's say I believe you're both fragments of this Shandrian princess. What exactly do you want me to do? Because I'm not super comfortable with the idea of just... stabbing people and consuming souls left and right."

"She won't hesitate," Cedez nodded at the bag. "If you let her go, she won't stop coming after you, after me, after Murdoc... She wishes to unmake anyone she sees as a threat to her rise to the top.”

"And you know this how?"

"Because we dream of each other at night," Cedez said. "When I look at her or at you, I can recall some parts of this shared dream, otherwise it's just a blur."

"How do I know you're not just manipulating me too?"

"Fair question," Cedez admitted. "I suppose you don't. But I haven't tried to collar you or force you into anything. I've simply been trying to guide you subtly..."

Dave frowned.

"Even if my methods were... imperfect," Cedez waved a gloved hand, strumming her guitar-violin to produce a few catchy notes. "I'm still nicer than her… right?”

Dave nodded, then had an idea. "What if... we tried talking to Stellaris? If you're both fragments of the same person, maybe there's a way to... I don't know, cooperate? Find some middle ground?"

"Fine," Cedez sighed. "If you want to talk to her, let's go upstairs. We can talk to her when she wakes up. Follow."

Dave followed Cedez up the winding staircase, the weight of the bag containing Stellaris heavy on his shoulders. As they reached the top, Cedez waved Murdoc over. The grumpy-looking wizard nodded, then to Dave's surprise, also climbed inside the enormous snail's shell from where he had been sitting.

Curious, Dave stepped through the round door after Cedez.

His eyes widened as he took in the unexpected sight. Inside the shell was a cozy apartment, its walls shimmering with the same pearlescent texture as the snail's exterior.

Round lamps housing a few glowing Kitlix illuminated the circular space with a soft light. The crystalline kitten-dragons turned their heads to Dave, looking at him with glowing eyes.

"This is your place?" Dave asked, looking around.

"Murdoc's mostly," Cedez replied with a shrug. "I don't actually get to sleep here since I'm a ghost or whatever. Plus... I can't control Bessie or any of the Kitlix here.”

The emerald-robed, old wizard settled onto a white leather couch, his eyes wary as he watched Dave and Cedez. Dave pushed more soul shards into Strength and with a grunt lifted the unconscious Stellaris out of the bag and placed her on the couch opposite Murdoc.

Murdoc looked over the ropes and whispered something to his Kitlix. His familiar glittered with violet sparks. A few glistening, pale tentacles emerged from the round hollows in the glittering walls, wrapping themselves around the limbs of the passed out elf.

“Do you have a couple of vials that could be corked and a needle? I want to test something,” Dave said to his host.

Murdoc nodded, then ordered his Kitlix. A moment later, another thin, semi-transparent tentacle emerged from a hole in the wall, grabbed a glass vial from a nearby shelf and a needle from another and handed it to Dave.

Dave pulled the dark elf's glove off slightly and carefully poked Stellaris' wrist with the needle. Dark fluid, reminiscent of ink or smoke given liquid form, dripped from the cut into the vial. In another moment, the bleeding stopped as the cut sealed itself.

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He quickly corked it, watching it intently. To his surprise, the substance didn't vanish or dissipate as he had half-expected it to, simply swirling in the vial as dark smoke coalescing at the bottom and moving like a spiral.

Cedez leaned in, her fox ears twitching with curiosity. "Whatcha doing?"

"Testing her blood," he replied, holding the vial up to the light. "You said you bleed dark smoke, right? I wanted to see how it behaves outside of your bodies."

"And?" Cedez prompted, her tail swishing back and forth.

"It's not disappearing," Dave said. "Give me your hand."

Cedez hesitated for a moment before pulling off her glove and offering a hand. Dave poked her finger with the needle, making her wince. The same dark substance oozed out, dripping into the second vial.

"Interesting," Dave muttered, comparing the two vials. "They look identical."

Murdoc leaned forward, his bushy, silver eyebrows furrowed. "What are you thinking, lad?"

Dave waved both of the vials. "If you're both fragments of the same person, then maybe... maybe this substance is the key to understanding what you are." He turned to Cedez. "You said you can't leave the city, right? What happens if you try?"

"Nothing," she said.

"Nothing?" Dave arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing happens until... nightfall," Cedez nodded. "At night, I simply stop being me, melt into smoke and wake up alone, confused and naked at a random rooftop in Shandria."

"What happens if I mix these?" Dave asked, wiggling the vials in his hands.

“Try it,” Cedez said.

Dave poured one shadow fluid into the other. There was indeed no effect. He quickly corked the combined vial before it evaporated. They both mixed without any problems, creating a thicker spiral.

Dave activated his Phantom Sight ability, focusing intently on Cedez and then the vial of dark smoke-fluid. At first, he saw nothing unusual.

Pushing all his points into Wisdom, he squinted harder, straining his Phantom Sight.

After a minute of a headache inducing glaring, he noticed the tiniest sparks of silver soul shards flickering within the vial.

Turning his gaze back to Cedez, Dave noticed she glittered ever so slightly in his enhanced vision. Stellaris exhibited the same subtle shimmer. As he leaned down to examine Stellaris' dress, a realization struck him.

"Hang on... these gems are full of soul shards," Dave said. He glanced back at Cedez. "Yours too. Who made your dress?"

"I did," Murdoc answered from his seat on the couch.

"How?" Dave asked.

"Long ago," Murdoc began, his eyes distant. "I was twenty three, and my fiancée, Darra, was an adventurer. I worked on the outskirts of Shandria as a Snailmancer at a snail-breeding farm. One day, she... she didn't return from one of her expeditions into the wilds."

Dave noticed Cedez's ears droop slightly as she settled onto the floor next to Murdoc, curling her tail around herself.

"I spent all of my savings on a Scrutimancer, went searching for her in the wilds, to no result. I didn't give up. I went out as often as I could to look for her. After a few weeks of searching, we found the bodies of the others torn up by a Thundersnarg, but not hers.”

The old wizard paused.

“I hadn't given up, kept looking for her, bred a snail that could track a person. By the time I found her body… a decade had gone by," Murdoc continued, his voice thick with emotion. "She had fallen into a crevasse, got separated from the rest and had... become a dungeon.”

“A dungeon?” Dave asked.

“Magic burned into the very land itself. Her skill, Swordmancy... became bound to the land, her bones and crystalline heart core fused into the deep crevasse. She became part of the local cave system. There were blades of grass as sharp as swords that tried to cut up my companion's feet. Bushes with blades as their leaves. Flying insects shaped like living swords. They didn't touch me, so I thought that maybe... maybe there was still a chance to speak to her, to bring her back.”

The wizard fell silent for a moment, closing his eyes.

"I thought that I heard her voice in the grass, saw her pale hair flickering in the gloomy cavern pierced by a single beam of light." The wizard's hands trembled slightly as he spoke. "For many years after, I foolishly sought a solution, refusing to give up on her. I delved into forbidden magics, consulted with people and creatures I'd rather forget. Eventually, an Alchemist told me that absolutely purified mana crystals could theoretically capture an imprint of a person.”

“Did it?” Dave asked.

“No,” Murdoc sighed heavily. "It didn't work. The crystals I produced… simply became contaminated with Swordmancy when I left them in the dungeon cavern. They didn't bring her back. It... was only her skill that remained. She was gone.”

The wizard paused again.

“It was then that I met Archmage Kells. The Charismatic bastard promised me that he could save her, could save everyone from death, bring all that were lost. Many of us lowborns supported his... revolution, helped his rise to power, but it was for naught.

“Kells and his undead army slaughtered the City Watch, stormed the palace and executed everyone within, declaring himself Supreme Sovereign of Shandria. His Republic didn't last very long. The surviving High Lords opened a gate and summoned help from other cities of the Shadow Empire. Archmage Kells was obliterated by their combined might, the entire palace reduced to rubble along with his undead and living minions."

Dave absorbed the words of the old mage.

"Then, about ten years ago," Murdoc continued, his gaze shifting to Cedez, "I found this dark young fox on my rooftop. She was trying to steal my cloak that was hanging out to dry."

"It was a very nice cloak," she nodded, tail wiggling.

Murdoc chuckled softly. "She seemed lost and confused. Couldn't speak properly, couldn't remember who she was. I thought her a victim of some Highborn prick's games, that her mind was purged of the crimes perpetrated against her with a spell. So, I didn't report her to the Watch, worried that they would just dispose of her by feeding her to the shadows.”

"You took her in?" Dave asked.

Murdoc nodded. "I tried using one of the leftover purified crystals to help her remember who she was. Purified mana can help center a person's magic, sing it back to them, stabilize their mind if it is fractured. She liked playing with the shiny gems. It seemed like it was helping."

Cedez nodded along, pawing at the large blue gem hanging from her leather collar.

"At night, to my great surprise, she vanished into smoke. But come morning, she was awake and holding onto that big crystal, staring at me with those big blue, lost eyes."

Cedez looked at Dave and then smiled at the Snailmancer.

"I raised her as the granddaughter I never had," Murdoc said. "Watched her grow up, taught her right from wrong."

"She aged?" Dave asked.

Murdoc whispered to his Kitlix and a snail tentacle grabbed a picture hanging on a wall and handed it to Dave. A younger, skinnier Cedez was there sitting next to Murdoc on the snail's shell.

"She amplified my Snailmancy tenfold, which helped me find Bessie," Murdoc said, pointing at the nearest glossy tentacle. "We both caught her in the wilds, bound her to my little Wickx."

The Snailmancer pet his Kitlix.

"So these crystals," Dave began, piecing things together as he stared at the diamond-like gems on Cedez, "they help anchor her?"

Murdoc nodded. "In a way. They seem to help her retain... herself, store her long term memories."

Dave's gaze shifted to the still unconscious Stellaris. "And her? How does she have similar crystals?"

"She probably just copied what we were doing," Cedez shrugged. "Got the info through the shared dream."

"So then... both of you were lost until you were able to anchor yourself," Dave said. "If you had different memories for ten years, then you must have diverged since."

Cedez nodded.

"Murdoc, have you ever encountered any other... beings like her?"

"Aye, lad. There were others. Not many, mind you. They'd appear in the city from time to time, confused and lost. Some of them attacked me, trying to eat me, but Bessie chased them away with her lightning. A few years after we opened the cafe they gave up on trying to eat me, forgot about me. They don't like people much, I reckon, and there's constantly adventurers here."

“And her?” Dave pointed at Stellaris.

“She or another anchored girl hired an assassin,” Murdoc said. “Bastard used invisibility and shot Cedez through the heart with a poisoned arrow from a distance when we were closing the cafe. Watched her die in my arms. Come morning, she was alive and well again, holding onto her gem."

"Dying hurt like a bitch," Cedez voiced.

“I should have shot your ass too, old man,” Stellaris hissed out, opening her eyes and wiggling in her bonds.

Cedez leapt from the floor, black spirals forming over her hands, fingers pointed at Stellaris.

Murdoc tensed up, the Kitlix on his shoulder twinkling. Eyes on stalks emerged from the wall, lightning dancing between them with a crackle of electric discharge.

“You were supposed to kill her,” Stellaris spotted Dave. “How in the Abyss have you gotten free? The collar bound your soul to serve me, I felt it connecting!”

“I don't appreciate being collared,” Dave said.

“You agreed to my Quest!” The dark elf snarled. “You're supposed to be my personal death-knight! You have to kill Astra, help me retake my city!"

Stellaris glared at Cedez who glared back.

“Your city?” Dave asked.

“Yes, my bloody city!” Stellaris growled. “Shandria belongs to me! It was taken from me by that Kells bastard and the High Lord pricks that permitted him to fester in the sewers below! You belong to me, Necromancer!”

"I belong to no-one," Dave shot back, his bone knife already in his right hand. "Collars don't work on me, so please stop trying to claim me. I'm not your personal assassin."

"If you choose to align yourself with these fools, then I shall devour you here and now, Necromancer!" Stellaris hissed dangerously.

Shadow blades erupted across her figure, snapping the makeshift ropes and carving through the tentacles holding her down. She leaped at Dave, a shadow blade manifesting in her hand pointed at his neck.