[A/N: This chapter is honestly one of the best I have written yet.]

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Asher had known this was coming. He knew that Nephis would subtly ask about this one day. Nephis was someone who respected secrets but when a fellow student appearing out of nowhere, with the scent of the Dreamspawn clinging to him, claiming to hail from the Outskirts?

Anyone would be curious. The only surprise was that she had waited this long.

Sunny, of course, had already figured out that Asher wasn't… normal, heck Sunny noticed how Asher would cleverly word it before Kai whenever the topic of the outskirts came. After all, he was more or less the same.

'It takes one to know one.'

Caster looked the most puzzled, watching as Nephis' gaze sharpened on Asher.

Asher sighed and gave a helpless shrug.

"…I'm not a Hollowborn."

The words dropped like a stone into still water.

Kai nodded quietly before anyone could even ask, confirming it in his own way. Nephis' pupils trembled.

"…I think," Asher added dryly.

Caster blinked. For the first time since they had started this journey, he actually spoke to Asher directly.

"…You think?"

Asher pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dust from his knees. He turned toward the endless dark sea, letting the salt wind tug at his hair. His back was to them when he finally spoke again.

"I was adopted very young. My parents… my real parents… died in a fire. I don't have much recollection of them, much less know how I am born. The next thing I knew, I was living in the Outskirts."

His hands flexed slowly at his sides.

"Then came my first Nightmare. That's when my hair turned white. And after that… here I am. No clue who this body's parent's were."

The silence was heavy. No one knew what to say. Sunny sighed, trying to light up the mood, "Wait, hair color changes after the first nightmare?"

Nephis tilted her head, "Why can't it? My hair also changed."

Everyone flinched.

Nephis was confused. "Did you guys, perhaps, think that this is my natural hair color?"

Sunny was silent for a while, then opened his mouth and closed it again.

"...It's not?"

Nephis looked at him for a while with a strange expression, and then suddenly exploded with laughter.

"Guys, it's silver, for Spell's sake. Who has natural silver hair?"

Sunny shrugged, "It's certainly seems more natural.." His eyes flicked toward Asher. "…than your eye color, for example."

Asher froze mid-blink. "…What about my eyes?"

Kai leaned forward, studying him with a strangely thoughtful look.

"From a distance, they look blue. But up close…" He hesitated, then said quietly, "…it's like I can see stars in them. Almost like you're carrying a tiny galaxy inside."

Kai grinned, "It certainly is a dazzling quirk Asher!"

Asher stared blankly at him.

He had lived with himself all this time, survived horrors, faced nightmares. But that?

That, he had never known.

***

It was... definitely a close call. If Asher wasn't an Olympic level bullshiter, he could've have messed up yesterday.

Now, as the cohort made their way toward the cathedral, tension hung in the air. Gunlaug surely knew of their arrival by now. The plan was to finish Sunny's errand before dealing with the tyrant himself.

That was when Nephis stopped walking.

Her eyes shifted to Asher. He was half-distracted, idly spinning a few pebbles through the air, his gaze fixed on the outer settlement in the distance.

"…Asher."

The rocks dropped, clattering to the ground. He straightened stiffly, caught off guard."Yeah?"

"You can go."

His brows furrowed. "…Go?"

Nephis pointed toward the settlement. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were sharper than usual."I dragged you into our cohort. But you weren't part of the deal I made with Sunny. You don't have to fight this fight."

For a moment, Asher just stared at her. Then, slowly, a faint smile spread across his face.

Nephis turned away, but not before glancing back at him with that all-knowing look of hers.

"Go. You must be worried about them… right?"

"Are you sure you don't need me?" He asked.

A weight settled on his shoulder. Effie had leaned her forearm there, smirking.

"Who do you think we are, Ash?"

Kai came up beside him, his smile gentle but firm.

"We've got this."

Asher's looked at the others. He glanced forward. Caster gave a small nod while Cassie offered her usual serene smile.

Finally, Sunny turned, his face deadpan while he said the words he wanted to say for a long time.

"…Get the hell out of here already, bastard."

For a second, Asher said nothing. Then the wind rushed past, tugging at his long hair and trench coat. His grin widened into something bright.

Without another word, he leapt, the coat billowing like wings as gravity carried him skyward. The cohort shrank below into tiny figures.

"...Thanks," he whispered, the word stolen by the wind as he soared toward the settlement.

Then his mind began to cloud. His brain felt like it was in a deep fryer.

Were they safe? Did they get caught? Did Hou finally get a girl to kiss him? Did Aiko make some kind of underground scheme? His thoughts ran rampant as he neared the settlement. He landed quietly in a secluded spot, as to avoid been seen by people to not raise the alarm.

Taking a deep breath, Asher pushed open the lodge door."Aiko! Hou! Did you guys miss me?"

Silence.

The lodge was empty.

"…Maybe they're hiding somewhere else." He tried to sound calm, but his own voice betrayed him, strained and too fast. His breaths came uneven, shaky.

He tore through the settlement.

He walked up to one of the tents, opening the curtain.

It was a few hunters drinking.

Next tent.

Few woman gossiping.

Next tent.

Men Arm-wrestling

Next tent...

....

..

Until—

"Saint Zerei is back!"

The shout ripped him from his frantic haze. Heads turned. Faces lit up. A crowd gathered, their voices rising in excitement.

"Lord Zerei! Is Saint Nephis with you?"

"Changing Star's cohort has returned!"

"Lady Nephis and Saint Zerei are back!"

...

...

The people surged forward, joy spilling into the streets. Asher looked around seeing at a group of familiar faces, seemingly rushing somewhere.

'I need to get there.'

Asher barely heard them. He shoved past the crowd until his hand clamped down on a familiar shoulder.

"Sid!"

The woman froze. When she turned, her expression wasn't joy. It wasn't relief. Her eyes, heavy with sorrow, told him everything he didn't want to know.

His smile faltered, cracking. "Why are you making that face? What happened? Where's Hou? Where's Aiko? I—I can't find them anywhere."

Sid inhaled sharply, lips trembling, but no words came. Gantry appeared behind her, his broad hand landing heavy on Asher's shoulder. His eyes were hollow, sunken.

The cheering faded. The crowd fell quiet, sensing the weight pressing down. No... There quite literarily seemed to be a weight pressing them down.

"Hey… why aren't you saying anything?" Asher's laugh was broken, forced, the sound of a drowning man gasping for air. "Where are we going? Haha… come on, you're scaring me…"

But his own body betrayed him. His chest heaved. His vision blurred. [Nimble Intellect] triggered again and again, his thoughts spiraling into grim conclusions faster than he could suppress them. His world tilted sideways, dizzy, wrong.

Then—

The sound of a curtain scraping open. The sunlight bled into the tent.

The first thing Asher saw was a small figure, curled in the corner, shoulders shaking with sobs.

"…Aiko?"

The word escaped in a ragged whisper.

Her head lifted slowly, streaks of tears painting her pale cheeks. Her lips trembled as her voice broke apart.

"A-Asher?"

Before he could move, she stumbled forward, collapsing into him. Her tiny frame shook as she clutched his coat with all her strength.

"Why?! Why did you come now?! If—if you had been here just a little earlier—!" Her voice cracked, dissolving into a wail. "Then Hou… Hou wouldn't have—"

The sentence never finished. Her sobs drowned the words.

Asher's heart lurched violently in his chest, pumping so fast it felt as if it wanted to tear itself free. Each thundering beat slammed into his skull like a war drum, shaking the very marrow of his bones. His blood roared through his veins in a deafening torrent, drowning out the world — Sid's voice, Aiko's sobs, the shuffle of feet — all of it swallowed by that relentless pounding.

The sound was everywhere. Inside his ears. Behind his eyes. Bursting in his throat.

He turned, almost unwilling, every muscle in his body stiff with dread. His eyes blurring as he shook his head.

"Why..."