Dave stared at Cedez as she sang, her voice carried by the wind across the large tree. He recognized the music as another song from Earth, called "Closer" by Lemaitre.

The idea that she had been waiting for him, dreaming of him, for so long was slightly unsettling but also a bit… sweet?

"Listen, I'm sorry," he said when she finished the song. "I didn't mean to judge you for what you cannot control. It's just... a lot to take in."

"It’s whatevs. Abyss, I think it's weird, and I'm the one who experienced it,” she shrugged.

“I think I’m done with the gem arrangement,” he said.

“Go on then,” Cedez turned, looking over the setup of gems.

Dave took a deep breath, concentrating on the memories he had absorbed from Stellaris. He arranged the hexagram board, placing the vial of dark fluid at its center. With careful movements, he began to trace the lines of the hexagram with the remnants of Stellaris' dress, trying to channel mana into the board.

Nothing happened.

Dave frowned. He tried again. Still, the dark fluid remained inert, the gems completely lifeless.

"It's not working," he said, switching Attributes around, frustration creeping into his voice.

He tried to push more Stellaris to the front of his mind, but that didn’t seem to work either, her memories of self were too shattered to come together like Sherlock to provide any aid.

Cedez tapped her chin. "Maybe you're missing something. You're not a Shadowmancer, after all. Besides, this kind of amplification magic needs two people to work. A pact. A handshake. An agreement. A transfer of power."

Dave sat back "Yeah, I guess. I thought I could do it alone with the memories I absorbed, but clearly, that's not enough."

He stared at the items in front of him, switching everything into Intelligence. Suddenly, a memory surfaced - not one of Stellaris', but his own. Leon, the healer, mentioning something during one of their conversations during the day that didn’t exist.

“Shadow Lotus,” he whispered.

“Yees?” Cedez asked.

Dave pushed all of his soul bits into Intelligence, recalling Leon's rambling word for word.

"Oh! It reminds me of the Void Lotus! You know, that rare flower that grows in the deepest, darkest caves about 33 clicks North from Shandria? Its petals are pure black, but when you look closely, you can see tiny pinpricks of light, like the stars cast by the fires of war in the darkest hour. The Void Lotus helps patients with damaged souls, realigns connections between skills..." Dave’s lips whispered. "See how the leaves shine from within? It also creates connections between people who share a drink of tea brewed from its petals, acts sort of like a temporary focus amplifier for mages trying to cast spells together. Witch covens and Maidenlyne enclaves pay a high price for it for their hexagrammic multi-person rituals such as the Dagaz Pact."

“Hrmmm,” Cedez pursed her lips. “Never heard of it.”

Dave stood up, shoving everything back into his backpack. "What do you say we go look for it? I think that this is exactly what I need. If I brew tea from it, maybe it'll connect Remy to me so that I can amplify her Metallomancy with this whole setup?"

"You want us to go traipsing through dark, Void monster-filled caves in search of a flower? A flower that, I might add, neither of us has ever seen before that might or might not help with what you’re trying to do?” Cedez tilted her head at him.

“I’ve seen it in Leon’s book,” Dave said. “Thirty three Shandrian clicks… What is that? Can you go that far from Shandria?”

“I can,” Cedez nodded. “That’s an hour of walking. Let's go. I think… Hrm, yeah, I know which cave you’re talking about.”

. . .

Dave and Cedez climbed down and set off from the tree, making their way north, the landscape gradually becoming rockier, dotted with triangular and pointy leafed, gray-green plants.

"So, how do you know about the cave?” Dave asked.

"Adventurers chat about it sometimes. There's a Void-afflicted system of caverns not far from here," Cedez explained as she navigated the uneven ground. "They call it the Whispering Depths. Full of all sorts of critters that would love to have us for lunch."

"And you're still okay with going there?"

“Ehh,” she shrugged. “Not particularly. But, I do owe you big for not selling me out to Stelly. Nothing like a little mortal peril to spice up one's afternoon, right?”

"Right," Dave muttered. "Any specific dangers I should be aware of?"

Cedez tapped her chin thoughtfully. “The alignment of this place is Void,” she explained.

“Void?”

“Void magic, also known as Space or Depth,” Cedez clarified. "The caves are inhabited by things such as Voidbats, Nipstrikes and uhhh... Depthknells? Yeah, that's it. Plus a bunch of other nasties."

“Depthknells?”

“Depthknells are basically jagged snake bois that teleport stone spikes into your organs.”

“Are you serious?” Dave asked, nearly tripping over his feet.

“Yes,” Cedez nodded.

“How do you expect us to survive something like that?”

“I can amplify one of your Attributes,” the foxgirl suggested.

“Which would attract more shadow… people,” Dave frowned. “Why not just shake Remicra’s hand at this rate?”

“Ehhhh,” Cedez rubbed her hands. “It didn’t go well with Murdoc."

“Because you got attacked by a killer Stellaris hired?”

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“Because Murdoc… also fell into a coma for a day and then two days and then a week after each Snailmancy amplification ran out. I had to pay a Healer to pull him out from the last coma. It wasn't cheap."

“What?!”

“Yeah,” Cedez nodded.

“So you could have sent me into a freaking coma?”

“No,” Cedez fretted. “Our handshake was perfect. It was meant to be, see? It worked out! You had no negative side effects."

Dave frowned.

“The Healer I hired explained that Murdoc’s magic skills were clearly amplified by some kind of an artifact and his soul simply couldn’t handle it,” Cedez sighed. “The coma happened because my handshake amplified ALL of his Attributes to the max, which nearly tore apart his soul.”

“So I could have…?”

“No,” Cedez shook her head. “You don’t have Attribute specificity. You have bloody nothing. Zero. Zilch. Don’t you get it? You’re Level Five in literally nothing from where I'm standing.”

“Nothing?” Dave blinked.

“Yes! You’ve got no alignment whatsoever. I think that the problem is that I’m really bad at amplifying people who aren’t Necromancers like you. From what the Healer told me, it has to do with soul and attribute purity. Amplified attributes clash too much."

Dave stared at Cedez.

"No. My handshake will put Remicra out for too long and then you’ll be dead and when Murdoc dies, I’ll… I’ll be all alone… against all of them!”

Her ears drooped and her tail hung limp behind her as her eyes sparkled. She turned away.

"Cedez," Dave began, "Why didn't you tell me all this before?"

"Because I didn't want you to see me as some kind of... a freaking monster that puts people into comas!" She hissed. "Because that’s all I really am in the end, a shadow on a wall that’s trying to be a person. I've spent so long trying to be normal, to fit in, to smile at everyone day after day for almost ten years! And then you came along, and for once, I thought maybe I could have a real friend… Someone that I could tell all of these horrible things to! Someone who wouldn't run screaming and report me to City Watch when they found out what I really am. Murdoc tolerates me at best.”

“He seemed pretty caring,” Dave pointed out.

“Oh, sure, he cares, but he’s also afraid of what I am, terrified that someday I’ll snap, forget myself, become someone like… like Stellaris and just start murdering everyone left and right!”

Dave took a step closer to the shadow-fox. "I'm not going to run screaming," he said. "Yes, this whole situation is crazy, I'll admit that. But you're not a monster, Cedez. You're just... different."

Cedez wiped her face and turned back to face him, a glimmer of hope in her slightly wet eyes. "You really mean that?"

"I do," Dave nodded. "The way you acted when we met, see, that really rubbed me the wrong way, made me want to walk away. That whole pretentious mysterious manipulator thing? Not very cool.”

“Okki,” Cedez bit her lower lip. “I’ll try to be less of that.”

“I need you to be honest with me. No hidden agendas or half-truths. If we're going to figure this out together, we need to trust each other. Deal?"

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Deal," she said, her tail giving a tentative swish.

Dave returned her smile, then glanced towards the path ahead. "So, about this cave..."

Cedez's ears perked up. "Right, the Whispering Depths. Yes, it's hella dangerous, but if there's even a chance this Void Lotus can help you amplify Remy and heal you, then it is worth the risk."

“Yeah,” Dave nodded.

“There you go,” Cedez smiled. “Me and you, we can do anything! We’re a team… right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m feeling a distinctive lack of team spirit from your end.”

“How can you give out Quests?” Dave asked suddenly. “I was told by my Healer… friends that only the Guild or Highborn Lords can do that.”

“I don’t know,” Cedez shrugged. “It just… sorta works, I guess?"

“How did you know that Garret charged me seven hundred silver?” Dave asked another question that was hanging on the back of his head. “You weren’t there. Are you stalking me across Shandria or something?”

“Not on purpose, but I was there… yes,” Cedez said.

"How?"

“Sometimes I close my eyes and I can see your adorkable face talking to other people. It’s like… I daydream about you, except the stuff in my head is sort of aligned with reality."

“Weird, but okay,” Dave said, processing her words.

“I don’t mean to,” Cedez said. “It just… happens. No idea how or why.”

“Just me?”

“Remy too,” Cedez said.

“Who else?”

“Murdoc,” Cedez said. “The girls working at our cafe. Some adventurers. Some Watchmen. Lowborns all over Shandria that I know well enough. Maybe it’s like… I’m watching over people that are sorta important to me? I don’t know. Look, I’m trying not to make this sound all weird… like I’m a mega stalker or something!”

"So you're saying you can just... see what I'm doing sometimes?"

"Not all the time," she clarified. "It's more like... blurry flashes. Glimpses of conversations. I'll be wiping down the counter at the cafe, thinking about how you’re doing all by yourself… and then bam, suddenly I'm seeing you chat with Garret.”

"That sounds... invasive."

“Yeah,” Cedez said. “I guess that it is. I don't know how to control it. It’s not a skill that normal people or even Shadowmancers are supposed to have. I don’t even know what skills I have, to be honest… except for the obviously visible Shadowmancy stuff. Banking bracelets don’t see me. I tried putting one on… and the result was absolutely nothing. No System messages. No ‘congrats you’re level 27 or whatever’. Nada.”

They walked in silence for a few moments, the only sound the crunch of gravel beneath their feet and the distant cry of some bird or monster.

"Can you see what I'm thinking?" Dave asked.

“No, I can’t see people’s thoughts, Dave.”

“Can you try to see me now in 3rd person?”

“Let me try,” Cedez closed her eyes for a minute. “Nope. There’s nothing. Let me try more. I can definitely see and hear Murdoc complaining about us to Bessie… I can see Hyrei taking down customer orders at the cafe outside… but I can’t seem to focus on you or me in third person right now. Weird, huh?”

“Hrmm,” Dave considered the words of the foxgirl. The mystery of Cedez seemed to deepen the more questions he asked.

As they rounded a bend in the path, a yawning chasm came into view.

The entrance to the Whispering Depths loomed before them, a jagged, dark tear in the gray rock face.

"We're here," she said, pulling off her leather glove. “This is it, hero. The Void-aligned caves 33 clicks North of Shandria. Pick a single Attribute and I’ll amplify it and hopefully you won’t die horribly.”

“What about you?”

“I believe that we’ve already established that I cannot die,” Cedez pointed out.

“You told me about Depthknells earlier. How exactly does one defend against teleporting void-spikes?”

"The best defense is to not be there in the first place," she replied. "There is no way to shield from teleporting spikes, but if you move fast enough, you can change positions before they end up inside you. The time between the spike flashing on a Depthknell and the time it ends inside your organs is about half a second.”

“Sooo… Agility?” Dave asked with a worried look.

“That’s an option,” Cedez nodded. “Since it'll accelerate you enough to leap out of the way. Or… maybe Charisma? To not be seen by the Depthknell and other things or to be seen as something so scary that they won’t even attack you.”

“Charisma sounds like a better option,” Dave considered.

“Oh wait, there’s just one problem with Charisma,” Cedez said. “It won’t affect non-living things like pitfalls. There are a lot of those here from what I recall. Depthknells and uhhh... Voidcrawlers dig holes under the floor for adventures to fall into and set up rockfall traps."

“What, are they freaking sapient too?” Dave asked.

“Not exactly,” Cedez said. “They’re… infected with Void. Just like you’re becoming infected with Metal. This place is a Void dungeon 'cus a Void mage died here over a century ago. The Dungeon sort of controls its monsters through the Void skill."

“I see,” Dave shuddered, looking at the gloomy cavern. Sherlock’s violin began to play a haunting rendition of "Dance Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saëns.

With a sigh, he extended his hand out towards that of the fox.