"What in the world is that doing here? Do you think it was sent here to find us?"

"No. I mean uh... probably not. Just look at it after all."

Seth cleared his throat as he knelt in front of the Unkindly Guard. He had answered on reflex at first, obviously because he knew he didn't send it to find himself, but then he remembered the role he was supposed to be playing.

Playing the 'Weak' side kick to the Great and powerful Lord Corvus wasn't exactly easy. Beyond just keeping straight what each of his identities knew and should remember, he also had to make sure not to present himself as too weak.

He had plenty of people nipping at his heels, vying for his position mostly because it meant being close to their precious Lord.

If he was too weak, then people would either start questioning why he was allowed to have such a prestigious position, or they'd think that they would be able to take it from him by force.

Both were far too problematic for what they were worth, so he did his best to avoid them while also keeping his power seem low enough that he could keep his real self out of the spotlight.

It was a difficult balance, especially when it came to life or death fights, such as the one with the dwarf.

Was it really worth losing lives just to keep himself looking weak enough for a 'secret identity'? Probably not. But it had yet to actually come to that point yet, so Seth put the issue out of his mind.

It was honestly easier just to hide part of himself away in his lab so he didn't have to deal with those issues, but it seemed all that time had dulled his senses towards keeping up the facade.

Hence, his reflexive answer to Astra and why he had to quickly, and oh so cooly, cover it up with a better answer.

But even though he quickly pulled the answer out of his behind, it wasn't entirely wrong. As the pair of them looked at the Unkindly Guard with inquisitive eyes, they both thought the same question but it was Astra who spoke it first.

"You're right. But even if it was here before us, why does it look so... old?"

She was right. The luscious grass surrounding the statue had started to creep onto it, growing like vines and wrapping around its limbs. Even the bark of the tree was slowly but surely engulfing the Unkindly Guard. It gave it a sense that it had been sitting here for years, but since they didn't know how quickly this process worked it could have easily been as short as a few weeks. But either way, that timeline wasn't exactly comforting.

Seth nodded softly, reaching out to touch the Unkindly Guards face. He wanted to tilt its head from side to side, but without his threads giving it magical life, it's body was as rigid as the statue it truly was. However even if he wanted lift its head and inspect its face, he wouldn't be able to. There wasn't much of a face left to inspect.

Wicked claw marks torn apart the brass of the statue, ripping it asunder and leaving jagged holes where the face used to be. It seems whatever had attacked it, they had especially targeted the eyes, hoping to claw them out and have a feast on them.

Puncture marks covered the rest of its head, indicating that they had gnawed on it, like a dog with a bone, before giving up entirely.

The rest of its body had been subject to the feral whims of whatever creature had done this, a creature they hopefully wouldn't have to meet. While the damage was extensive, for a statue it wasn't going to be debilitating. With no blood to spill, these cuts did little and it still had all of its limbs. The most it had lost was its eyes.

But other than the claw and teeth marks, there was no sign anything living had passed by.

It was surely odd.

"Is it dead?"

Seth had to stop himself from answering immediately once again, instead pausing for a second and acting like he was thinking, before finally responding.

"I don't think so... I think it might just be sleeping."

"Those things need sleep?"

"Well no, but there's no one around to give it orders. So it's probably in rest mode, just waiting to be woken up. Like a laptop you haven't touched in a while, you know?"

He had been wondering himself why it was just sitting there, and more importantly why he didn't feel anything from it.

Although he couldn't sense his puppets nor connect to them, deep within his soul he could still feel the connections were there.

It was just like he was in an Internet dead zone, ready to connect up once again when he left.

But with this puppet, the connection that should be there was utterly gone. It wasn't much to worry about, however. It was most likely just a quirk of his automation.

When the Spirit Animal controlling the guard felt it disappear, it probably just cut the connection, thinking that it was dead or useless.

"Maybe I can wake him up... All he needs is a little-"

Seth reached forward again, making a show of rapping his knuckles against its head, letting out an echoing 'dong dong dong' as the sound reverberated within this hollow knight.

Of course, in reality this did absolutely nothing of value, but it acted as a good cover as he implemented the actual wake up plan.

As he pulled his hand back, Seth let his spectral threads plunge into the Unkindly Guards brass body as it jerked slightly, before raising its head groggily.

As it did so, a new sensory source popped up in his mind. It was an experience he had come to be used to over the last few months, but for some reason it brought him so much comfort this time. Even though, because of its lack of eyes, it's visual data was completely black, this unobstructed connection was like a candle in the dark.

A familiar hug, keeping him warm inside.

Seth stood up, taking a step back and glanced at Astra. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, as if to say 'watch this' before turning his attention back to the Unkindly Guard and putting on his best Drill Sargent voice.

"On your feet Soldier! ATTENTION!"

Eager to follow his orders, and under the control of his threads, the Unkindly Guard quickly leapt to its feet and stood rigid, slapping its hand to its head in a salute as it stood completely rigid at attention.

Before Astra could ask how it was obeying him, when they were the Lords minions, Seth leaned over to her and softly whispered his perfectly crafted answer.

"Special privilege of being his squire. I think they see me as a general or something, but they follow his orders above all."

He let a slight amount of smugness leak into his voice, to complete his little act. Honestly, he thought that it was utterly genius and would help brush away any questions, as well as let him use the puppet like he was used to.

Now that the puppet was operational, Seth stepped to the side to think while Astra inspected the damaged Guard, occasionally barking orders at it to try and make it act for her, to no avail. It was fun listening to her continue to try, however, as well as shouting into its ears for help, trying to send the message to the Lord through his minion.

Seth had to try his best not to wince at that. The girl definitely had some set of lungs on her.

As he stepped to the side, one arm hung uselessly by his side while the other drummed its fingers idly against his leg. His silver eyes trailed over the endless horizon of emerald grass, constantly switching between his soul vision and his regular vision, looking for anything else out of the ordinary.

But there was nothing. The sight of nothing but the same grass and the same scattered trees caused Seth to let out a sorrowful sigh.

Seeing his puppet here had initially given him hope, hope that since there was something different out here that maybe it could lead to a way out.

But instead it had just showed him the truth of their situation.

They were well and truly stuck and, if the condition of the puppet was anything to go off of, then even if help did arrive they could be looking at weeks, or even months being stuck here.

He had only lost that puppet for no more than half an hour, yet it had been here for weeks at the least.

Time dilation. Wherever they were, and he had his suspicions about where that was, they were going to be trapped by the cage of time dilation.

As Seth was deep in his thoughts, lamenting their situation and how it was undoubtedly his fault that he had sentenced himself, and Astra, to a possibly slow and agonising death of starvation, he heard his companions voice.

She spoke softly into his ear, as if trying not to disturb him. It was so soft it might have been a whisper.

"You always do that when you think, you know."

"It's a force of habit. It helps me... Relax..."

Seth smiled softly, looking over his shoulder as he replied. But his reply trailed off, as a panic set onto his face. Why, You might ask?

Because as when Seth looked over his shoulder he did not find Astra standing beside him. In fact she was not anywhere near him.

Instead she was still standing next to his puppet, a few metres away from him, with her lips to close to its ear, as she looked at him with an unfamiliar smug smile.

Seths words caught in his throat, stammering as he racked his mind for an excuse. Yet as his mind whirred, she whispered into the puppets ear again. A whisper that he heard loud and clear in his own ear, through the recently reestablished connection.

"What tune is that anyways, Lord Corvus?"