On the Eastern board of the continent, Astaroth was regaining consciousness, after spending almost half a day knocked out. His head was ringing like a bell during a wedding, and his body felt like it had gone through a stone crusher.
Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked around to see where he was. The room was unfamiliar to him, but at the same time, looked like some room he had already seen.
The walls of wood, seemingly a complete plank from one side of the room to the other, and from floor to ceiling, reminded him of the interior of the guest rooms in the tree palace in Bastion City. But he knew he couldn't be back there already.
So he stood to his feet, looking around, making sure there was no immediate threat. Once he felt the room was safe, he noticed all his equipment was at the foot of the bed he had been lying on, on the top of a wooden chest.
Re-equipping everything, he walked out of the room cautiously. As he stalked his way down the hall, trying to be as discreet as he could, he heard the floor creak behind him.
With no hesitation whatsoever, Astaroth spun around, swinging the Ad Astra in sword form at his unknown follower. Stopping the blade a centimetre short of the person, Astaroth sighed.
Standing in front of him now, Silent Light was looking at him with a pale face.
"You're… *Gulp* You're awake. Good. Lady Nemus wants to see you."
Astaroth stowed his weapon away. If he had been in enemy territory, Silent Light wouldn't have been roaming around.
"I'm sorry I attacked you. I didn't know where I was, and I thought you were an enemy."
Silent shook his head.
"I snuck up on you. It's my fault. Do you not remember where you are?"
Astaroth hadn't even stopped to think of what he remembered last. He had been stuck in combat mode so much in the last week, he automatically assumed.
But now that he thought about it, it made sense, since his gear wouldn't have been left there for him if he had been in enemy territory. Jogging his mind a bit, he remembered what had happened before he crashed to the ground.
"Ahh. That's right. Something incredible happened, and then I collapsed outside the wall. Where are we now?"
"We are inside the top part of the shelter. Lady Nemus made some rooms for us, while she waited for you to wake up. She asked to notify her when you did, or bring you to her directly."
Astaroth jogged his memory again, trying to remember who the heck this Lady Nemus was. When he did, he also remembered he had used something important to him when forming her soul and body.
Looking inwards, a pang of sadness hit him as he confirmed his fear. Luna was no longer attached to him.
He wanted to cry, but there was still hope. If this being used Luna as fuel to make herself, she might be able to give her back to him.
"Well, I have a reason to speak to her, too. You say she wants to see me? Lead the way."
Silent Light nodded his head, turning a hundred-and-eighty degrees, before walking whence he had come from. Astaroth followed behind him, looking around as he did.
The architecture was similar to the tree palace, but the layout was different. Whoever had turned the inside of this tree into an abode was not the same person.
Come to think of it, Astaroth wondered why Aberon and the others had gone underground, when choosing their shelter, instead of coming in here, if it was an option. He took a mental note to ask them later.
After taking many winding corridors, in an upward trend, Astaroth and Silent Light arrived in a large open room, which seemed to span the entirety of the hollowed-out trunk of the tree. The hundred-meter-wide room was astounding to be in.
But even more impressive was the lack of a roof over their heads. It was like the bough of the tree ended here, and all its branches left from its sides, covering the sky overhead.
Astaroth sucked in the cold air of the high altitude and turned his head toward the back end of the open room. At the opposite of where he and Silent Light came in, a small dais was raised, and on it, a woman was lounging on a comfortable-looking sofa.
The pair walked their way toward the dais, and while they did, Astaroth asked a question that had been on his mind for a few minutes.
"Where is the party that came with you here? Did they already leave?"
Silent Light sighed, remembering they were still waiting to speak with Astaroth outside the tree.
"I wish. But they insist on meeting you and speaking with you. I tried telling them to wait at the base, but they refused."
"Hmm. That's okay. They'll be disappointed to meet me, though. I'm not a god or anything. Just a regular player, striving to be stronger, like all the others."
Silent Light chuckled, even though his mind wasn't laughing.
'You are already leagues above the rest of us. If you become any stronger, no one will even be able to hope of catching up…'
But he kept his thoughts to himself. He would have to work harder from now on.
Reaching the dais, the woman on it smiled delicately at the two men. For Silent Light, this was an awkward place to be.
Having to set his eyes on what was essentially a female version of his guild leader was already tough on him. But when he remembered looking down at her chest, his face flushed red and he took his leave.
The woman giggled as he walked away, setting her eyes on Astaroth.
"I have been waiting for you to wake up. We have much to discuss."
Astaroth nodded his head.
"We do. But before we talk about anything. I want something back that you took from me."
The woman tilted her head.
"I want Luna back. I couldn't care less about the piece of my soul you took. But Luna was very dear to me, and a precious friend and ally. I want her back."
Nemus looked at him, astounded. She couldn't remember when was the last time someone was so blunt with her, aside from her previous captor.
But she giggled slightly and waved her hand in front of her.
In a flash of bright pearly white, a silhouette appeared, that Astaroth had to shield his eyes from. When the light subsided, he turned his head, his jaw slacking.
"Luna?!"
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